The Rain that Binds
by ilovemybishies87
Summary: [Multi Chapter] She…was very confused why an Espada from Aizen’s army was sitting across the table from her. [COMPLETE]
1. Chapter 1

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be hinted at later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,123  
Warnings: Noitora's potty mouth

She blinked. He blinked. She sighed. He shifted his focus to the odd-looking big screen transmitter that was taking up one wall of her apartment. She…was very confused **why** an Espada from Aizen's army was sitting across the table from her. No wait. Orihime **knew** why Ulquiorra was sitting there, taking in his surroundings with a meticulous eye.

* * *

_Ichigo had been fighting Grimmjow for about an hour and a half now. It had been a repetitive back and forth of Ichigo gaining the upper hand and then Grimmjow and then Ichigo again. Orihime and Nell stood behind her Santen Kesshun and watched the battle with intense interest._

_" Kurosaki-kun…"_

_Her eyes traveled downward and rested on her hands. She had been terrified when she saw him with his mask on and that made her feel immense guilt._

_' How can I fear someone that I love?'_

_She did not have time to ponder this as she felt a strong reiatsu appear behind her, and her shield shattered. Slowly, she turned around. Her eyes widened when she recognized who it was. Noitora. He was wearing his trademark lecherous grin on his face that made her feel like throwing up. Orihime could feel his eyes moving up and down her body in a suggestive motion and tried her hardest to suppress a shudder._

_" Why? What is Pet-sama doing out of her cage?"_

_This time, she couldn't help but shudder at his nickname for her. He continued to leer at her while she decided what would be the best course of action. She had no idea what rank he was, but she was sure that even if he was the tenth Espada that she would be no match for him. She couldn't and wouldn't ask Ichigo for his help. No. She had promised herself that she would become strong enough so that she didn't have to depend on Ichigo anymore._

_" What's wrong? Can you not talk anymore? Come. I'll bring you back to your cage and take good 'care' of you."_

_She looked up at him, determined. She had narrowed her options down to two: either run away from Noitora and hope that she did not run into another Espada, who could possible be a higher rank, or fight. Orihime thought over both choices quickly and decided that she only had one real choice: she had to fight._

_" Tsubaki!"_

_" Eh? What are you doing? You don't thand a chanth agaitht Noitora-sama!" Nell cried out._

_" Oh? Pet-sama is going to try and fight me, huh? Well, this should be interesting." His grin grew even larger than it already was, a feat that Orihime would have thought to be impossible._

_' I know, Nell. I know I don't have a chance. But if I run away from this battle, I can never look at Kurosaki-kun and Kuchiki-san and Sado-kun and Ishida-kun the same way again! I have to fight!'_

_"Koten Zanshun! I reject!"_

_Tsubaki lauched at the significantly larger Espada, aimed for his right arm…and missed it by more than a few feet. Noitora easily moved out of the way of the projectile._

_" Oh? So this is the power that Aizen-sama had told us about?" he questioned._

_Orihime tried to attack him a few more times but each time that she did, he would move out of the way._

_' This is just a game to him, isn't it?' she thought bitterly. ' Why can't I hit him?'_

_'**Your attack lacks a killing intent.' **_

_Yes. That is what one of the first shinigami that she and Ishida had encountered in Soul Society had told her. How does one go about gaining such a thing, though?_

_' I just have to try harder. I WILL hit him. For my friends sake! I won't let this rescue mission be in vain! I won't let him take me back! Kuchiki-san! Abarai-kun! Sado-kun! Ishida-kun! Kurosaki-kun!'_

_"Koten Zanshun! I REJECT!" she screamed, pouring every emotion she had into the attack._

_"You know, if that attack of yours didn't work the first time, what makes you think it will work this time?"_

_To Orihime and Noitora's surprise, her attack **did** work. Tsubaki had managed to make a shallow incision on his chest. The wound began to bleed, staining his uniform red. He looked at her in surprise, disbelief, and most of all, in fury. She had never seen him with anything other than that grin of his before. Until now. His mouth was turned down into a deep frown that could rival Ulquiorra's._

_" You stupid bitch! How could a girl like you hurt me? **Me**? The quinta Espada? I'll make you pay for that!"_

_Suddenly, Noitora's long, bony hands were tightly wrapped around her neck. Because of their obvious height difference, Orihime was dangling a couple of feet from the ground. She gasped desperately for air and grasped at his fingers to try to loosen them, but they got tighter instead._

_" I don't care about Aizen-sama's orders to not harm you. Nothing can save you now. Most of your nakama are either fighting, injured or dead. This is the end for you, Pet-sama. I do regret that we did not have the time to get better 'acquainted' with each other."_

_Orihime continued to grasp at his fingers but it was futile. She was beginning to see stars, and could feel her body getting weaker with each passing second._

_' I'm going to die! Please! Someone! Help me! Kurosaki-kun!' she pleaded inwardly._

_Suddenly, she could breathe again. At the same time, she started to fall and before she could let out a scream, she was in someone's arms. She breathed heavily, trying to get rid of the stars and the numb feeling that a lack of oxygen had left her body with. Orihime looked at Noitora and was surprised to see another gash in his chest, a bit higher then the one that she had made and much deeper._

_" Ulquiorra! What the fuck do you think you are doing?" Noitora cried out in confusion._

_' Ulquiorra?' She looked up to see her rescuer and to her surprise, she found that it really was Ulquiorra. She saw his emerald green eyes, hard, and his green tear marks that stood out against his pale face. She looked at his uniform and saw that it was worn and torn in several places. Yes. This was definitely Ulquiorra. But when had he escaped from the negación that Grimmjow had sealed him in?_

_" If I were you, Noitora, I would leave right now. If you do not, I promise you that you will not come out of our fight alive," Ulquiorra said coldly, but with an edge to his voice that Orihime had never heard from the shorter Espada._

_The two stared each other down for what seemed like hours. Noitora moved his hand to zanpakutou and held it there. Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed minimally. Then, after a few seconds, Noitora moved his hand away and started to laugh._

_" I don't know what you think you are going to accomplish, Ulquiorra. Aizen-sama will not be pleased." And with that, he turned on his heal and left the two. They were still in the same position they had been when Ulquiorra had first caught her and she was starting to feel uncomfortable in his grasp. He apparently noticed this and soon released her, making sure she was secure on the ground before fully releasing her._

_" Why did you…"_

_" Quiet, woman." He looked around them and then turned his gaze back to her. Before she could open her mouth to question him, he started to talk again._

_" It would appear that your nakama, Kurosaki Ichigo, has defeated Grimmjow. He is now heading this way. No. Let me finish," he said, noticing that she was about to ask something. " Your other nakama are close by. If you want to leave Hueco Mundo in one piece, you will follow exactly what I say."_

_Orihime looked at him blankly, trying to figure out if what she was hearing was correct._

_" Wait! What do you mean, leave Hueco Mundo? I thought…"_

_" Does it matter? You want to leave this place, correct?"_

_"Yes, but…"_

_" Then you will follow what I say."_

_Ulquorra broke eye contact with her and stared to the west, the direction that Ichigo would come from. What would he say when he saw her with Ulquiorra, the same Espada who had kidnapped her? Would he try to fight him again?_

_"…where's Nell?" she asked, realizing that it had been too quiet without the young Arrancar._

_" She has been returned to her brothers and they are now outside of Las Noches."_

_" Ano…" He turned his attention back to her. " How long had you been there before you…attacked Noitora?" She was reluctant to say that he saved her, even though he technically did. He would deny that he had saved her anyway._

_" Inoue!" Ichigo yelled to her. "Damn you, Ulquiorra! Get the hell away from her!"_

_"Kuro..saki-kun?"_

_Ichigo looked terrible. He had abrasions and a couple of deep wounds that were in dire need of treatment. His shinigami clothes had been torn in many places and blood was soaking through them at an alarming rate. Ulquiorra looked at him impassively and opened his mouth to speak._

_" Woman. Reverse the worst of the damage as quickly as you can. We do not have much time."_

_She nodded her head and activated her shield, healing the worst of Ichigo's wounds. When she was finished, she turned back to face the Espada and waited for his instructions._

_"Good. Now, follow me."_

_" Why the hell do you think we would do something like that?" Ichigo replied. " If you aren't going to let us go, I guess I'm going to have to fight you again, huh?" His hand gripped his zanpakutou, preparing to attack._

_Ulquiorra sighed heavily, another sight that Orihime had never seen before. It made him seem…more human. " What makes you think that you would win? I defeated you the first time. Even if you have defeated Grimmjow, the outcome will be the same."_

_Ichigo pointed his blade at him, preparing to attack him._

_" Kurosaki-kun. I think we should trust him," Orihime replied quietly._

_" Trust him? But he is the one…" he started._

_" I know that. But what reason would he have to help us? He doesn't gain anything from it."_

_" I believe I said that we do not have much time. Unless you feel like battling more Espada that are most likely heading this way, I would suggest you listen to her," Ulquiorra interjected, mildly annoyed that they were standing around wasting time._

_The two looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Satisfied, Ulquiorra led them outside the walls of Las Noches. Orihime was mildly surprised that they had not met up with any other Arrancar but was thankful nonetheless. They found their nakama up resting against the wall. They all looked horrible, but they were alive at least. Ishida and Renji looked at the trio and stood up quickly. Their eyes widened when they saw the Espada._

_" Kurosaki! What is he…?"_

_Ichigo shook his head. "No time to explain. Renji, get Rukia. Ishida and I will carry Sado."_

_It took them a few minutes to get situated. Ishida and Ichigo were having a bit of trouble carrying Sado, but they managed. They turned to Ulquiorra, who had had his back to the group. He spared them a glance before he opened up the portal between Hueco Mundo and Earth. The group walked in silence, all wondering why Ulquiorra was helping them. The Espada offered no explanation as he led the way. Soon, they were at the end of the portal, and they found themselves back in Karakura, in front of Ichigo's home. It appeared to be either very late or very early, judging from darkness that covered the town. As soon as their feet touched the ground, Renji, Ichigo and Ishida placed Rukia and Sado to the ground, allowing Orihime to heal them. Ulquiorra turned to the group._

_" You have returned safely. Now, I will take my leave," he said, starting to turn. Ichigo grabbed him on his shoulder and turned him around._

_" Where the hell do you think you're going? You have some questions you need to answer. First and foremost, why did you help us?" Ichigo demanded. The Espada glared at him and replied, " I have no obligation to tell trash like you my reason."_

_" I think you do, actually," a familiar voice interjected. They all turned to the direction of the voice._

_" Hitsugaya-kun! Rangiku-san, too!" Orihime exclaimed._

_The white haired taichou and his blonde fukutaichou were behind the group, glaring at Ulquiorra. " It's taichou," he replied, slightly irritated. " We came here because 12th division sensed a large increase in reiatsu at this particular location. They thought that the Arrancar had decided to invade Karakura again. It appears they were half right."_

_All eyes were focused on Ulquiorra now. His face didn't show any more emotion than it usually did, even under the pressure of so many gazes. It remained this way for a few more minutes until Matsumoto broke the silence._

_" Well, I suppose that you will go back to Hueco Mundo and report back to Aizen," she said._

_Ulquiorra looked at her incredulously. Or what looked like it, to Orihime anyway. " Only if I wish to have my head removed from my body. I will have already been marked as a traitor for helping them escape," he said, his eyes glancing over at Orihime and her nakama._

_Hitsugaya and Matsumoto glanced at each other. " Is that so? Well, in that case, we have some questions that we need to have answered," Matsumoto replied. Ulquiorra just stared at her. " The problem is, what are we supposed to do with him? We can't take him back to Soul Society. That may be what Aizen wants."_

_" If he can't go to Soul Society and he can't go back to Hueco Mundo then that leaves us no choice. He will have to stay here," Hitsugaya decided. " We will just have to stay here to watch over him to make sure that he doesn't cause any problems." He glanced over at Matsumoto and she nodded._

_" And where the heck is he going to stay? Because there is no way in hell he is staying with me!" Ichigo exclaimed._

_" I don't think Urahara-san would mind to much, but I'm not sure there is enough for him and the two of you, as well as the others who are already living there," Renji replied, pointing to the two 10th squad members._

_" Ano…." They all turned their attention to Orihime, surprised that she had joined in the conversation. " If there is no other choice, he can stay with me…"_

_" Inoue-san, are you sure? He's dangero…" Ishida began but was cut off by Hitsugaya._

_" That will work. Matsumoto and I have already stayed there before, so her neighbors will already be familiar with us. One more person living there shouldn't arouse too much suspicion. Anyway, with us around, she will be safe," the white haired taichou explained._

_Ichigo and Ishida spared each other a glance. Apparently, they did not agree with him but said nothing. Ishida then turned away from the group and announced that he was going home. Ichigo spared Ulquiorra one last piercing look before he picked Rukia up and brought her inside his home. Renji said that he would bring Sado back to Urahara's shop and offered to join Matsumoto and Hitsugaya in their watch for the night. They told him that there was no need. Instead, they suggested that he get some rest and they would meet in the morning. Ulquiorra and the 10th squad taichou and fukutaichou turned to look at Orihime. Understanding their unspoken request, she nodded and led them to her apartment._

* * *

After she had gone through the events of the last few hours in her mind, she decided that, no, she wasn't really confused as to why he was here. Was she in disbelief? Yes. But she wasn't confused. What really confused her was why she wasn't more nervous that he was there, sitting quietly across the table. Actually, Orihime realized, she had never been afraid of the Espada. Even when he had come to intercept her on her way back to Earth after her month training with Rukia, she had felt no fear. She had been surprised, as well as concerned for the well being of the shinigami that had been with her, but she was not afraid of him. 

' This isn't the time to be thinking about this,' she decided. ' There are more important issues to deal with.'

"Ulquiorra." His gaze returned back to her, giving her his full attention. " Is there anything I can get for you? Some food or…" He cut her off.

" No."

" Oh," she replied, a bit crestfallen. They stared at each other and she let out another sigh. It was already late and she had a feeling that she would have to be up early for school. She wasn't sure **how** she knew this, considering that her sense of time had been messed up ever since she had arrived in Hueco Mundo, with it's never moving moon, but somehow, she knew that it was a day of the week that she had to go to school.

" It's getting late," she said. " Do you want me to set up a futon for you or…"

" No. Arrancar do not require sleep." Ulquiorra glared at her before he continued, " Also, stop trying to treat me as if I were your guest. You and I both know that this is not the case."

She nodded, trying to ignore the sting of his words.

" Well, then…goodnight, Ulquiorra." With that, she stood up from the table and started to make her way to her bedroom at the back of the apartment. Locking the door behind her, she took off the Arrancar uniform that she had been wearing and tossed it into the hamper. Orihime desperately wanted to take a bath; she could feel the dirt on her, but the need for sleep won out. Putting on a set of pajamas, she crawled into bed and shut her eyes heavily. The last thought that passed through her head before sleep overtook her was that Ulquiorra had no spare clothes that he could change into.

* * *

Noitora's number has not yet been revealed in the manga. However, considering his interactions with Ulquiorra, it would appear that he is close in rank but not above him. 

I wasn't sure if I should go with the color they are in the anime (the same color green as his eyes) or the manga (the same color blue as Grimmjow's hair). I decided to go the route of the anime and have the tear marks green.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be hinted at later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,941

While she daydreamt for about fifteen minutes, Ulquiorra took in his surroundings. The first thing that stood out to him in the room was the enormous transmitter that covered one wall completely. It consisted of a screen with weird tentacle like things framing it.

' Why am I reminded of the former sexta espada?' he wondered. 'The one Grimmjow had killed…'

It took a second for him to realize that Grimmjow would technically be considered a former sexta Espada as well. Not that he really cared about such things. It was just another fallen Espada, which meant that another would come and take Grimmjow's place, like Luppi had. Just like someone else would do for his position. For some reason, the thought didn't bother him as much as it should have.

' No point in dwelling over it. What is done is done,' he decided.

After he finished with those thoughts and saw that Orihime's eyes still had that glazed over look, he looked around the rest of her apartment. It was small; smaller than the room that she had been given in Las Noches, he noted. Nonetheless, it was mostly tidy, except for the light sheen of dust that had accumulated on the table and a few of the knickknacks due to her absence. He noted there was a hallway that lead to the back of the apartment.

' Probably a bedroom and bathroom, seeing as how I cannot see any from where I am sitting.'

When he was done with his survey of the apartment, he heard her call his name and offer him food and something else, but he cut her off before she could finish. Arrancar didn't eat, not the kind of food she was offering, anyway, and he seriously doubted that she would offer him her soul to eat. She then noted that it was late and offered something for him to sleep on. He refused her again, making it a point to let her know that Arrancar do not require sleep.

"Also, stop trying to treat me as if I were your guest. You and I both know that this is not the case," he told her, a bit too coldly, he realized.

She then got up from her seat and left to the back of the apartment, but not before he got a good look at her face. There was a hurt look in her eyes and the beginnings of tears were formed in them. He felt a slight twinge right above the 4 tattoo that marked him as the fourth most powerful Espada, not that it mattered anymore. His frown deepened. He knew what this twinge was and did not revel in it. It was guilt. He tried to push the feeling away but to no avail. Ulquiorra sighed. He felt an increase in reiatsu in the room and turned to find Hitsugaya and Matsumoto glaring at him suspiciously and, in Matsumoto's case, irritably.

" What did you say to Orihime-chan, Espada?" she said coolly, raising her eyebrow. He could hear the threat in her question that said that if he had said anything too upsetting to Orihime, there would be hell to pay. He ignored it.

" I was just informing her of the situation that we are in and that it is not necessary for her to treat me like a house guest," he replied. ' Like the two of you are.'

Matsumoto continued to glare at the Espada for a couple of seconds, as if she didn't trust what he had said, but then turned to face her taichou. Hitsugaya was still staring at him intently. It seemed, however, that he accepted Ulquiorra's answer because he had nodded and returned to the room they had come from, leaving a bewildered Matsumoto. Realizing that her taichou had left her, she quickly followed him. Ulquiorra sighed again.

' This is the most that I have sighed in a day,' he noted wearily.

He glanced over at the clock that hung on the wall and saw that it was 3:34 in the morning. There would be at least a few more hours before Orihime woke up or Renji came over to talk with the other two shinigami about what they should do about him. His frown deepened.

' No wonder it was so easy for Aizen to fool them. If they were smart, they would have killed me the first time that they laid eyes on me. Instead, they believe that they can extract information from me that will lead to his downfall. They are nothing but trash,' he decided. ' Just because I was the most trusted Espada does not mean that I was trusted much, if at all.'

With that last thought, Ulquiorra looked out the window in front of him for the rest of the night until he saw the sun begin to rise.

* * *

" Oh no! Is it this time already? I'm going to be late!" she cried out, tossing her school uniform on quickly. Orhime had been so tired from the night before that she had forgotten to set her alarm. Now she was running fifteen minutes late. Running out of her room, she sped to her kitchen to get some food to eat on the way to school but tripped over something before she could make it. She stood up and turned to the offending object that had dared to trip her only to find that said object was none other than Ulquiorra. He shot her a glance. 

" Oh!" she exclaimed, blushing in embarrassment. " I'm sorry. I was in a hurry and I didn't see you there."

"…Obviously."

She could feel her face turn redder and was about to apologize to the Espada again when she saw the time. She was now running twenty-five minutes late. Muttering one last apology, she made her way to the kitchen and pulled whatever she could from the refrigerator, only to find that everything had gotten bad during her absence. Growling in frustration, Orihime decided that she would go shopping and clean it out as soon as she got home. With that, she said a quick goodbye to Hitsugaya and Matsumoto before slamming the door shut, leaving an amused Ulquiorra.

' Did she just growl?' he thought in disbelief.

This was not a side of her that he had known while she was a guest at Las Noches. She had been calmer, quieter and more…dispirited. This Orihime was none of those things; actually, she was quite the opposite. But, he decided, he preferred her better this way. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and Matsumoto opened the door to reveal Renji, who looked much better than he did last night thanks to some much needed rest and healing. The three made their way over to Ulquiorra and sat down at the same table that he was currently sitting at. He glared at them.

" Well, Espada. What you say we try this again, huh?" Renji started.

" One night is not going to make me change my mind," Ulquiorra stated firmly. " As I said before, it is no business of yours to know why I helped the woman and her nakama." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Matsumoto glare at him for referring to Orihime as 'woman'.

" Fine then," Hitsugaya said. " There are other things we wish to know as well. First, what is Aizen planning?"

Ulquiorra moved his gaze to the white-haired taichou. " Just because I am no longer loyal to Aizen does not mean that I am going to help his enemies. Only trash does that."

The three glanced at each other. Turning back to the Espada, now apparently the former Espada, Hitsugaya asked him what was on all of their minds.

" What do you mean you are no longer to loyal to Aizen?"

" It does not concern you why I am…" he repeated before he felt himself being lifted by the front of his tattered coat by none other than Renji.

" The hell it doesn't! Now, you either tell us everything we need to know, or else…"

Renji was unable to finish his sentence as a hand started to squeeze his, hard enough to crush the bones of his gigai. Ulquiorra tightened his grip and stared at him, a dangerous look in his eyes.

" If you wish to keep this hand, you will let go now. You and I both know that I can kill all three of you with minimal effort, if I desired to do so."

Reluctantly, he released the former Espada, muttering about how if any of his bones were broken, someone was going to find himself with Zabimaru sticking out of his chest. Matsumoto and Hitsugaya just shook their heads and sighed.

" Look, " said Matsumoto, clearly at the end of her patience, " what **can **you tell us?"

" Oh? Someone was holding a party and didn't invite me? I'm hurt. Honestly, Abarai-kun, how could you not tell me, especially when you are freeloading at my place once again?"

The four turned to face the voice and found none other than Urahara and Yoruichi standing in the foyer of the apartement, the front door wide open. Closing the door and removing their shoes, the two walked over to the three shinigami and Ulquiorra. The taichou and the two fukutaichous moved closer together to allow the two newcomers room on either side of the former Espada. He glared at the two but said nothing.

" You three are really careless, leaving the door wide open like that. He," Yoruichi said, pointing to her right at Ulquiorra, " could have escaped all too easily."

Matsumoto blushed, embarrassed, and mumbled a quick apology.

Yoruichi replied, " No need to worry about it now. Anyway, as he said, he could have killed you all with little to no effort if he had wanted to."

" You've been standing in the doorway for that long?" Renji asked and then turned red with anger. " Wait! You've been here that long and you didn't stop him from crushing my hand?!"

Urahara laughed from behind his fan, angering the red headed fukutaichou even more. Just when it looked like he was about to jump across the table to get his hands on a certain storeowner, Urahara began to speak.

" So. I see that we have an Espada sitting with us. Ulquiorra, wasn't it? To what do we owe this momentous occasion?" All eyes turned to Ulquiorra, who had been sitting patiently, watching the madness that ensued before him.

' If these people are supposedly the most powerful shinigami in Soul Society and Karakura, they do not stand a chance against Aizen,' he thought.

" It seems that he helped Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, Sado Yasutora, Ishida Uryuu, and Orihime-chan escape from Hueco Mundo," stated Matsumoto.

" Is that so? Well, that is very odd indeed, " Urahara replied, leaning in to get a closer look at the former Espada to his left. Ulquiorra looked at him, slightly annoyed that he was even closer than he had been to the shop owner than he had been just a minute ago. " So, did he tell you his reasons for helping Kurosaki-san's group?"

" He refused to answer any of our questions, " the white haired taichou explained. " The only thing that he told us is that he is no longer loyal to Aizen but will not help Soul Society."

Yoruichi and Urahara shared a similar glance that the others had shared not too long ago, both looking as confused as the other three were. An Espada that had lost his loyalty to Aizen? This was definitely an unusual turn of events.

" I see. And I suppose you were wondering how else you can get the information out of him, correct?" the hat wearing shop keeper asked.

" Yes. Too bad there isn't a device that can remove information from a being," the blonde fukutaichou said.

" It's a pity indeed," agreed Yoruichi. " But, from what I remember, can't Yamamoto-taichou essentially do the same thing?"

" Yes, but we can't risk bringing him to Soul Soci…"

" Who said anything about taking him to Soul Society? Why not have Yamamoto-taichou come here instead?" suggested Urahara.

The three stared at him as if he had grown another head. Ulquiorra continued to sit, listening to their conversation. He had decided that the people around him talked too much for their own good.

" That's not possible, Urahara-san. The soutaichou is getting the numerous preparations together for the winter war. There is no way that he would come down here," Hitsugaya explained.

" What's the harm in trying? It's better than waiting for him, " Yoruichi pointed at Ulquiorra again, this time for emphasis, " to open up and start talking."

Renji, Matsumoto, and Hitsugaya looked at each other and sighed. They knew that they had no other choice. They decided that Renji would go back to Soul Society to explain the situation to Yamamoto because they did not want to leave Orihime alone with the former Espada. Once that was decided, Renji, Urahara and Yoruichi made their way to the door. Before they were completely out, though, Urahara turned back to the two 10th squad members and handed them something the size of a button and a small remote control-like device.

" I almost forgot! A little gift for Orihime-san. It will allow her to protect herself against the former Espada in the event that the two of you aren't around. The button seals some of his reiatsu and the remote, well…I'll let you see for yourselves what it does," he added with a wink.

And with that, the trio closed the door and returned to the shop, leaving Matsumoto and Hitsugaya alone with Ulquiorra. They found him staring at the two of them with a look that dared them to even try and put that button on him. Not in the mood to deal with the stubborn former Espada, Matsumoto walked over to him, hands on her hips, and grinned evilly.

" Well, think of it this way. At least it will make it harder for Aizen to find you, right?"

' …I hate women,' Ulquiorra decided, placing the button in an inconspicuous place beneath one of his torn sleeves.

* * *

It had been three hours and fifty-four minutes since Urahara's trio returned to the store, and it had been three hours and fourteen minutes since Ulquiorra had last seen the 10th squad taichou and fukutaichou, although he knew that they were still in the apartment because he could still feel their reiatsu. He had never been this bored in his entire existence. When he had been serving under Aizen, he had been given more than enough missions to keep him occupied, so this idleness was starting to wear on his nerves…what little he had, anyway. He could feel his mask of indifference slip just a little bit and be replaced with annoyance. What annoyed him the most, though, was that his thoughts were going to a certain orange-haired female. 

She had always fascinated Ulquiorra, ever since the first time that he had seen her. Her and that strange power of hers. The power that Aizen had lusted after so that he could use them for his own goals. The power that had given the orders to take her away from all that she held dear. Ulquiorra closed his eyes at the memory. Although it had been a while ago, he could still see the way she glared at him, as if he were some kind of monster.

' Although, she is probably right.'

He didn't think anything much of his fascination with her. He had assumed that she interested him because of her unusual powers. It wasn't until that day. That fateful day when he saw her in that dress that Aizen created, when, for one moment, he felt his mask of indifference fall completely and he said what was exactly on his mind.

"_Surprisingly, it suits you."_

It was because of that incident, combined with the unexpected meeting with Noitora outside her room, saying things that made him burn with the unfamiliar sensation of rage, that Ulquiorra realized that it was not just a simple fascination; it was attraction. He was disgusted with himself for this. It was beneath him. At that moment, he had decided to distance himself from her as much as possible, which, of course, was not that much, considering that he had been assigned as her guard. As a result, the only way that he could distance himself was emotionally. Whenever he talked to her, he remained as cold as possible.

And for a short time, it worked. Until he let her slap him. Ulquiorra had felt that it was not worth the effort to stop her. After all, what was the worst that she could do to him, the cuatra Espada? But the moment her palm touched his hand he knew that it had been a mistake. The warmth from her hand had spread through him and he **knew** that she had changed something in him. When Orihime glanced up at him, a light sheen of sweat on her face, him looking down at her. In that moment, he could have…

' Best not to think about that,' Ulquiorra thought, shaking his head ever so slightly.

His mind traveled to his fight with Ichigo. He had been so close, tantalizingly close, to destroying the existence of the person that he knew she held dear. But when the time came to finish him off, he hesitated. He kept seeing her face in his mind; no matter what he did, it continued to haunt him. As a result, he had let Ichigo live. Then, he returned to her room, only to find two female Arrancar there in her place. Hearing that Grimmjow had taken her, he focused in on his reiatsu and found the pair where he had been a little over an hour ago. There he saw her. At first, Ulquiorra had glared at her, for leaving without his permission, but when he saw her turn away from his gaze, a guilty look on her face, he unwilling let his face soften, just a little bit. And then Grimmjow had sealed him in the negación.

'Damn Grimmjow. At least he got what was coming to him,' he considered bitterly, involuntarily shuddering. ' He had to have known what it would be like in there, the stupid…'

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the slamming of the front door. Ulquiorra could tell it was Orihime without even looking.

" I'm home!" she yelled out happily, kicking her shoes off and putting on a pair of slippers. He turned and saw that she was carrying many bags probably full of food, considering the events of the morning.

" Welcome back, Orihime-chan!" Matsumoto responded. Hitsugaya grunted in affirmation and Ulquiorra continued to stare at her while the two women started to clean the refrigerator out and put the food away.

"It's been so long since I've been able to cook my own food!" Orihime exclaimed. " I think I am going to make some curry with umeboshi and ketchup!"

Ulquiorra wasn't sure what humans considered normal food, but somehow he got the feeling that her creation was anything but normal. On the other hand, the blonde fukutaichou squealed with glee and hugged the young girl.

"Ah! Orihime-chan! It has been too long since I have eaten a meal cooked by you!"

Orihime laughed lightly at the older woman's antics. It caught him by surprise. He never realized it before, but he had never seen her smile, let alone hear her laugh, the whole time she was in Las Noches. Her laughter was light and melodic, and he decided that he wouldn't mind if he had to hear more of it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her approaching him, holding a bag. This one, however, was slightly different than the ones that had held food. Smiling brightly, she held out it out in front of her, offering the contents to him.

" Woman. I thought I told you that I do not require…" But he was cut off before he could finish.

"Here, Ulquiorra. I know that you don't have any extra clothes to change into and I figured that you would not want to stay in the clothes you are wearing, seeing as how… they are all torn and…here, " she said finally, holding the bag out to him once again.

After a few moments, he took the bag from her hands. Orihime looked at him expectantly, and with that, he realized that she wanted him to look at what she had bought him. Sighing in defeat, he opened the bag and took out what was inside. A green button down shirt, the same color as his eyes.

' Apparently, she took into consideration my mask,' Ulquiorra thought, amused.

She had also bought him a black pair of trousers and some black shoes, as well as some socks. The last thing, a bag of some white material, was something that he was unfamiliar with. Ulquiorra looked at her questioningly.

" What are these?"

Orihime's face turned a deep red while she opened and closed her mouth a few times. After a few more attempts, with no words coming from her mouth, she finally regained the ability to speak, albeit barely.

"Um…. ahem…they're…under...wear."

" …Where exactly am I supposed to wear them?"

She turned even redder, even though he had been quite certain that it was quite impossible for her to do so. She looked utterly mortified. Again, she tried to speak, but this time she was unable to do so. Instead, she resorted to pointing. His eyes traced the path of her finger until they landed down….

"...I see…"

He didn't know what else to say, but he was thankful that the other two shinigami sharing the apartment were in a different room. They stood in an uncomfortable silence until he decided to relieve her suffering.

" How did you know this would fit me? " he asked.

" Oh. Well, I'm in the embroidery club, so I'm used to eyeing the size of things. If it's too small or too large I can always return it," she replied.

" Thank you for the clothing."

" Eh?" Orihime looked up at him, clearly surprised. "What did you say?"

" I said thank you."

It made him uncomfortable, using these human signs of gratitude that were clearly unnecessary. Still, he figured that he should at least show his gratitude, considering that she had paid for these clothes out of her own money. She didn't have to, which bothered him to no end because that meant he was in her debt. However, looking at the confused look on her face, he thought that perhaps he had used the wrong one. He was about to correct himself when he saw her smile again, this time even brighter and wider than before.

" You're welcome, Ulquiorra! I'm glad you like it!"

With that, she went off skipping to the kitchen to prepare dinner for her and her other two guests leaving Ulquiorra holding the bag of clothes, still in awe at the power her smile held.

'No,' he decided, ' I would not be upset at seeing more of her smiles at all.'


	3. Chapter 3

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with a bit of IchiRuki and some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be added later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,595  
Warnings: Noitora's potty mouth

A/N: Hello everyone! I just wanted to say thanks for the reviews that I have received so far! They have really motivated me to get these chapters out as fast as I can. I noticed that a lot of people of who watch/favorite this story have not left reviews. Although the favorites/watches are flattering as well, I would really like your input! So please, if you can, review! With that said, here is chapter 3!

* * *

Humming, Orihime stirred the umemoshi into the curry. She was glad to be back home, cooking her own food. The aroma was spreading into every corner of the apartment. In the next room, she could hear Hitsugaya gag loudly, although she had no idea what from. Shrugging it off, she added a generous helping of ketchup and some red beans as a special treat. 

It was also good to be back in school after having been gone for about two weeks, or at least, that is how long her classmates had **told** her she had been gone. Chiyo had started wailing, telling Orihime that she missed her while Tatsuki pried the girl off. Tatsuki expressed her relief at her being back as well. She was relieved that the teacher did not make a big deal of her absence, writing it off as an illness before Orihime could even give an explanation. Of her nakama, she was the only who had gone to school, not that it surprised her much. They had all been injured badly, so they could not be expected to go.

' Kurosaki-kun…I wonder how he is doing, ' she thought.

He had been on her mind for most of the day. She kept thinking back to his fight with Grimmjow and how she had been frightened by his appearance when he had begun to fight with that strange Hollow-like mask. She was reminded of the question that she had asked herself at that time but had not been able to answer.

_' How can I fear someone that I love?'_

' I've thought about it for a while now. The only conclusion that I can reach is that, perhaps, I don't really lo…'

Orihime stopped herself before she could finish that thought. Instead, she decided to focus on the food in front of her, which looked like it was about ready to serve. She heard a noise to her left and saw Ulquiorra coming towards her with the bag in his hand.

" Woman. Is there some place where I can change clothes?" he asked her monotonously.

She blinked, looked over him once and replied, " Mm. In the back of the apartment there is a bathroom. The door is to the right. If you want, you can take a bath."

'Although,' she wondered, 'do Arrancar need to bathe?'

He nodded slightly and made his way to the bathroom, locking the door behind him. She stared at where he had been standing for a couple of seconds before returning her attention to the food on the stove. She stirred it two more times before deciding that it was finished. She called to Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, telling them that dinner was ready. Matsumoto rushed into the kitchen to help Orihime set the table.

"Eh? Where's Hitsugaya-kun?"

" Oh. Taichou decided that he wasn't too hungry at the moment. He'll just get something later if he needs it," Matsumoto explained.

Satisfied, Orihime and Matsumoto started to eat, talking about random things that didn't have any real significance. She couldn't help but feel a bit guilty that they had not waited for Ulquiorra before they started eating, even if she knew that Arrancar didn't need to eat. They stayed this way for a few hours, just laughing and talking and eating. When they were done, they put the dishes away, and Matsumoto started to return to the other room until Orihime stopped her.

"Um…Rangiku-san? What is it that you and Hitsugaya-kun are doing in that room?" she asked. She had been wondering this ever since she had gotten home and had seen the two hunched over something out of her view, whispering to each other.

"Ah! Don't worry about that, Orihime-chan! Just some shinigami business involving a certain green eyed Arrancar," Matsumoro answered, winking. And with that, she returned to the other room.

Orihime then walked over to the table where her school bag was sitting and took out the huge stack of makeup work that had accumulated while she had been gone. An enormous sweatdrop formed. Although she was thankful that the teacher had given her the opportunity to make up the work that she had missed, she wondered if it was humanly possible to get it done in the time that it was due.

' How on earth am I supposed to get all this done in four days, along with the work I received today, ' she wondered wearily.

Deciding that staring at the homework would not help her get it done any faster, Orihime whipped out her pencil and eraser and got to work. She had just finished her fifth assignment, a math worksheet, when she heard a noise from the back of the apartment. Turning her head, she found a wet haired Ulquiorra, wearing the clothes that she had bought for him. Her eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen him in anything other than his black and white Arrancar uniform, so to see him something else, something with color, was surprising. Everything fit him perfectly, like it was made just for him. The green of the shirt made his eyes stand out, even more so than they already did, and the black slacks hugged his form and showed more of his figure than the hakama had. She could feel herself flush ever so slightly.

' The clothes looked decent on the rack, but when they are on him, he makes them look…elegant,' she thought.

He noticed her staring at him and said, " …what?'

Shaking herself out of her daze and turning her head to try and hide the blush that was forming, this time from embarrassment, she replied, " N…nothing, Ulquiorra. How did your bath go? Did you find everything ok?"

He nodded in response and went to sit down at the table where she had been doing her homework. Orihime decided to follow him, sat back down in the seat she had been in just a minute ago, and tried to get back to the assignment she had been working on. Tried being the operative word; it was very hard to work on something when you could feel a pair of eyes on you at all times, scrutinizing everything that you do.

' Well, ok. Maybe that last part is a bit of an exaggeration, but still,' she thought, desperately trying to ignore his piercing gaze, 'it's really hard to concentrate with him staring at me like that. I feel like he is going to pounce over the table and strangle me or something.'

Eventually, the weight of his stare became too much for her and she lifted her head to look at him.

" Is something wrong?"

"…No."

" Then why do you keep staring at me?" Orihime demanded.

" It's not as though I have much else to do, correct?" he replied.

She could feel herself blush for the second time in ten minutes at his response. The palm of her hand met her forehead with a light slap. It had never even crossed her mind that she should at least offer him something to occupy himself with. She knew better than anyone what it was like to be left alone with nothing to do for hours on end but to stare at something, anything, to keep you from going insane. In her case, it had been the moon outside the solitary window of her room. For him, it was to stare at her. Orihime was about to answer him when he started talking to her again.

" What is that?" he replied, his eyes glancing at the piece of homework that she had been working on.

" Oh this?" she asked, picking up the paper and looking it over. " It's just some make up work for school that I need to get done."

" Hm," he said, nodding slightly. " What exactly is this 'make up work'?"

' He sure is inquisitive. Much more than usual. I guess having nothing to do for the whole day can get on a per…being's nerves, even an Arrancar,' she decided.

" Well," Orihime started, placing a finger to her lips while trying to figure out a way to explain it to him that he would understand, " makeup work is kinda like…a mission …or maybe...more like writing a mission report. But because I have been gone for so long, I have a lot to do."

" How much time have you been given to finish?"

" Four days," she replied, frowning.

Ulquiorra stared at her and then at the stack of paper on the table and then back to her again. He continued to stare at her for a few seconds before he finally responded.

" That is not humanly possible."

And with that, he got up from the table and walked over to stare out the window, leaving her with her huge stack of homework. She sighed.

' Well, at least that's something that **both** of us can agree on.'

* * *

All the Espada, minus the two that had been killed and the one that had defected, stood in Aizen's chambers, waiting for him to arrive. They knew that he would be furious, even if he didn't show it. Actually, it was more unnerving that he didn't; instead, he would look down at them with that fake fatherly smile and calmly ask them what had gone wrong. It wasn't long before they could hear the clicking of three sets of heels approaching them. Three figures stepped into the brightness of the room, revealing three shinigami: Ichimaru Gin, Tousen Kaname, and, last of all, Aizen Sosuke. Aizen took his seat, high above the ground where the Espada were standing, while Ichimaru and Tousen stood to either side of him. 

" Well, now. Someone has got some explaining to do," Ichimaru replied, a twisted smile on his face.

" My dear Espada," Aizen started, his eyes glancing over them, " it would seem that we have lost three from our ranks…"

" Well, fuck. We can see **that** for ourselves," Noitora muttered to the Arrancar next to him, who happened to be Halibel. She said nothing in response.

"…Aaroniero Arleri, novena Espada, and Grimmjow Jeagerjacques, sexta Espada, who were both defeated by the ryoka …"

There was some muttering among the Espada. It had not been a surprise that Aaroniero had been defeated; he was a Gillian after all. What surprised them was Grimmjow's defeat. While he was not the highest ranked Espada, he had had a fighting spirit like none of the others did, although others had called him bloodthirsty.

" …and Ulquiorra Schiffer, cuatra Espada, who willingly betrayed us to help the girl, Inoue Orihime, and the ryoka to escape Hueco Mundo. Pity, he had been my perfect creation," he finished, a light sigh escaping his lips.

All the Espada started chatting at once, filling the once silent chamber.

" Ulquiorra?"

" I saw it with my own…"

"Help the ryoka?"

"…can't believe…"

Aizen held his hand up and the room fell silent again. The Espada returned their attention to him.

" Yes, it was a shock for me to hear that he betrayed us like this. However, we cannot let this loss keep us from moving forward and attaining our goal. It would seem that we would be needing a new novena, sexta, and cuatra Espada, though."

Aizen stood up, effectively ending the meeting, and returned back to his quarters, Tousen and Ichimaru following his lead. Most of the Espada followed suit, returning to their respective quarters, but a few remained behind.

" I can't believe that Aizen is doing nothing about that little bitch's betrayal," Noitora replied harshly. " You know that if any of the rest of us had done less than that, he would have fucking had us killed."

" Ulquiorra is different. He was Aizen's most trusted Espada," Halibel replied.

Noitora snorted. " Yeah, and look where he is now. On Earth, with Pet-sama and her nakama, probably spilling all our secrets to them just to save his ass."

" Your opinion of him is that low, Noitora? How sad," Stark interjected, gaining the attention of the other two. " Ulquiorra would never reveal anything concerning Aizen-sama or us Arrancar even if he **has** betrayed us. No matter what means the shinigami try to use to get information out of him, none will succeed."

He left Noitora to think on this while Halibel stood next to him silently. Resigned, he turned to his companion and the two walked out of the throne room.

* * *

Orihime had finished a good portion of the homework that she had to make up, leaving the pile of work that needed to be completed a third of its original size. Thankfully, most of the work had consisted of worksheets, which did not take too much time to complete. Feeling the tightness in her muscles from being hunched over for such a long period of time, she decided to take a little break and stood up, stretching. 

" Aah! That felt good!" she said out loud to herself. " At the rate that I am going, I may actually be able to get this turned in on time."

She turned to see that Ulquiorra had not moved from his position since she had started to do her homework again. He continued to stare out the window, although what he was staring at exactly was anyone's guess. She could see that the moon was hidden by the clouds, and there would be nothing else of interest outside other than a few random buildings that were scattered on the horizon.

' I wonder what he is thinking about. Does he regret saving us?' she wondered.

Before she had the chance to ask him anything, she saw Hitsugaya and Matsumoto walking towards her, a serious look on both their faces. She knew that whatever they had to talk to her about was serious.

" Orihime-chan. Can we talk to you for a minute?"

She nodded lightly and followed the two to the room they had occupied for most of their stay. Indicating that she should take a seat, Orihime sat on the floor, the two joining her soon afterward, and waited for them to start.

" Inoue, you know that Matsumoto, Renji, and myself had a meeting while you were gone, right?" Hitsugaya inquired and seeing her nod, continued, " Well, we were joined by Urahara-san and Yoruichi-san."

" I see. So, what did you decide to do about Ulquiorra?"

"Well, he refused to tell us anything other than that he is no longer loyal to Aizen. Urahara-san has suggested that we ask help from Yamamoto-taichou to extract information from the former Espada," explained Matusmoto.

She nodded again, not knowing what else to add, until what Matsumoto told her finally clicked in her head.

" Wait! No longer loyal to Aizen? What does that mea…" Orihime began before Hitsugaya cut her off.

" We are not sure what he means by that, but to be on the safe side, it is best to think of him as still loyal to Aizen. If not, it might be too tempting to lower your guard around him. But that is not the only reason that we asked you to come here."

He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the remote control-like device.

" Before Urahara-san left, he gave this to us, saying that we should pass it on to you," he explained. " He did not tell us what this object is capable of, though. He only said that it would help protect you in the event that Matsumoto and I are not around."

Hitsugaya looked at Matsumoto and she continued where he left off.

" The thing is, Orihime-chan, there is a high possibility that whatever this device does is not something very pleasant. Taichou and I were worried that if this were the case, you would not be willing to use it on the former Espada. We discussed the issue over and considered keeping the device between the two of us; but, it appears that only you can use it."

" How do you know that? Unless…" she said, her eyes widening in realization.

They nodded. " Yes," Hitsugaya confirmed. " We tried to use it already. However, considering that nothing happened when either of us tried **and** considering that Urahara-san mentioned specifically that this was for you, it would seem that you are the only one who can use it."

" I see," she replied blankly, " I will have to thank Urahara-san the next time I see him."

The three stared at the object for a moment before Hitsugaya placed it in Orihime's hand. She shivered when it touched her hand. It was cold and metallic, but worst of all, it held the potential to do who-knows-what to a certain green eyed Arrancar.

' I still don't like this. What if this device does something terrible, like rip him to shreds or something like that?' she thought sadly, ' No matter what he has said or done to me, it doesn't justify something like that. After all, Ulquiorra is the reason that we were able to escape from Hueco Mundo.'

She turned her gaze back to Hitsugaya and Matsumoto. It appeared that they were not quite finished talking to her yet. The way they were staring at her made her stomach tighten. Somehow, she knew what they were going to tell her.

" You want me to try this on him, don't you?" she asked a bit fearfully.

" It's not going to kill him, if you're worried about that," the blonde fukutaichou replied. " I doubt Urahara-san wouldn't have given you something like that."

Orihime nodded, although she did not feel any better about the whole situation. The three then stood up and walked over to the room where Ulquiorra was still standing by the window, except that he was already facing them. Although his face appeared no different than normal, Orihime had the feeling that he was looking at them suspiciously.

" …What?"

" Um, Ulquiorra. Can you come here for a second please?" she asked, even though she could see out the corner of her eyes the look of confusion from the two shinigami on either side of her.

" Why?"

" If you don't come here willingly, we can always use force and drag you over here ourselves, you know," Matsumoto replied.

He stared at her and Hitsugaya coldly before he started to make his way over to the three, stopping a few feet away from them. Orihime could see him staring at her but she avoided his eyes. Instead, she looked at the remote control-like object and, taking a deep breath, pushed the single button in the center, all the while hoping that whatever it did would not be anything too horrible. After a couple of seconds, she then heard a loud THUMP and looked to where Ulquiorra had been standing only a second ago, only to find that he was not there.

" Ha ha ha ha ha! I can't believe we got all worked up over nothing, taichou. It figures that Urahara-san would pull something like this," the fukutaichou said through the bouts of laughter.

Orihime turned to the two, confused. Matsumoto was clutching her stomach while tears rolled down her face. Hitsugaya didn't laugh, but there was a smirk of amusement plastered on his face. The two sensed her confusion and pointed to the floor in front of her. Suddenly their amusement made sense. Lying face down on the floor with his arms and legs held tightly against his body was the green eyed Arrancar. Orihime was torn between the urge to giggle or to go help him into a more comfortable position. In the end, she did both.

"I'm… so…sorry…Ulqui…orra…Here, let…me…help…you," she replied through her giggling.

With help from the two 10th squad members, they were able turn Ulquiorra over so that he was at least lying on his back. After they had finished, the two returned to the adjacent room, although Orihime could still hear Matsumoto's dying laughter. She walked up to him and sat about half a foot away.

" What do you think you are doing, woman?" he demanded, a bit wearily.

" I'm waiting until this…whatever this is wears off," she answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

He closed his eyes. " Foolishness."

She didn't reply; instead, a small smile formed and she let out a giggle, causing him to open his eyes and look at her. They sat in silence, Ulquiorra looking at the ceiling and Orihime watching him to see if he could move yet. She noticed that there were fine gossamer strands of reiatsu tightly binding his arms and legs to his body, all of them converging at a single point right above where his heart would be.

' So that explains why he's stuck like this…'

After about an hour, he moved his arms, breaking the strands, and pushed himself off the ground into a sitting position. He turned to see that she had fallen sleep where she had been sitting. Standing up, he contemplated moving her into a more comfortable position but decided against it. He walked over to the window he had standing next to earlier that evening and continued gazing at nothing in particular, his thoughts drifting to a certain storeowner.

" …I'm going to kill that shinigami." Ulquiorra muttered resolutely.


	4. Chapter 4

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with a bit of IchiRuki and some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be added later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 4,444

* * *

Ulquiorra stood with the bag of clothes in his hand, watching Orihime as she stood over the stove cooking…something. He was hesitant to call it food. He looked around for a place where he could change clothes but was not able to find any, unless he was going to change right there and that was **not **an option. So, he walked up to her in order to ask where he could change clothes. Blinking, she replied that there was a bathroom at the back of the apartment. 

' Even better,' he thought. 'The dirt and grime that has accumulated from the last few battles is starting to take its toll on my nerves.'

With that, he nodded lightly, walked over to where she had indicated the bathroom was and locked the door with a quiet click. He began to fill the tub with hot water and removed his clothing, folding it neatly. When the tub was mostly filled, he turned the tap off and proceeded to wash the dirt and blood off of him. He spent a few extra minutes washing his hair and mask before he washed the shampoo out. He looked at the button that he had placed on his arm a few hours ago and decided to move it so that it was on the 4 tattoo on his breast. Ulquiorra then made his way over to the tub, settling himself in carefully. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the hot water on his body. He let out a small sigh.

' I have more time to reflect since I began to live here. I'm not sure I enjoy this very much, though,' he decided. ' It seems that my thoughts continually drift towards that woman…'

Speaking of that woman, he could hear her muffled cry that dinner was ready. At the mention of dinner, he could feel his body telling him that he needed to consume something. However, Ulquiorra ignored the feeling and banished it into some dark corner of his mind. He was not like the mindless Hollows or lower level Arrancar that could not control their urges to consume souls.

' Although, even I need to consume souls if I am to stay here for an extended period of time or else I will begin to weaken. Earth is not like Hueco Mundo, which has a high concentration of reiatsu.'

With that, he got up from the bath and drained the water. Grabbing a towel from the rack, he wiped himself off and walked over to the bag of clothes that Orihime bought him. He pulled out each article of clothing and began to put them on. It had taken him a few tries before he could get the underwear on, but eventually he did and then pulled on the black slacks. He wasn't really sure if he was partial to them; they were more form fitting than the hakama that he was used to wearing. Then, he buttoned down the shirt and inspected himself in the mirror. It was odd, he decided, to be in anything else other than his black and white Arrancar uniform.

' It seems I do not have any other choice,' he thought, looking at his tattered clothing sitting in a corner of the bathroom.

Ulquiorra picked up his folded uniform and placed it into the bag, unsure of what to do with it. Seeing a trashcan under the sink, he tossed the bag in without a second thought and exited the room. He noticed Orihime sitting at the table, hunched over a piece of paper that she was currently writing on with great enthusiasm. Suddenly, she noticed his presence and turned to look at him. Her eyes widened and a slight flush crept over her cheeks. She continued to stare for a few more minutes.

"…What?" he asked her, slightly annoyed. ' I'm fairly certain I put everything on correctly…'

She turned her head, trying to cover her blush…and failing miserably. He was confused why her face had gotten so red just by seeing him.

' Perhaps she is becoming ill? Humans can become ill so easily, after all.'

She then asked if everything had gone well and he nodded in response. He walked over to the table and sensed her following him, returning to what she was working on. Seeing as how he had nothing better to do, he tried to figure out what she had been working so hard on. He stared at the piece of paper and saw many numbers in an arrangement that made no sense to him but apparently made sense to her. Her writing began to slow until it eventually ceased altogether. Orihime looked up to face him.

" Is something wrong?"

"…No."

" Then why do keep staring at me?" she demanded, the same look on her face that she had had right after she slapped him for offending her nakama. Ulquiorra really hoped that she would stop glaring at him like that. He couldn't understand why, but whenever she stared at him like that he had the urge to grab her by her forearms and…

He wanted to tell her that he had technically not been staring at her, but that he was staring at the piece of paper that she was working on instead. Deciding that it was not worth the effort, he told her instead that he had nothing else to do. When she heard his reply, she turned bright red again, the second time in about ten minutes.

' She really must be starting to fall ill,' Ulquiorra decided resolutely. ' It cannot be healthy for a human to become red this many times in such a short period of time.'

His eyes went back to the piece of paper, confusion spreading through him. No matter how much he stared at it, he could not figure out the significance the numbers possessed or, more importantly, why she was working so hard on it. He then noticed the large stack of paper that was beside her, which he surmised she would also have to finish.

" Oh this? It's just some make up work for school that I need to get done."

' Makeup work?' He searched his mind for a definition to the word but could not find one. This word was completely new to him. What was this 'makeup work' that she spoke of? He decided to ask her what she had meant.

" Well…makeup work is kind of like…a mission…or maybe…more like a writing a mission report. But because I have been gone for so long, I have a lot to do."

' I see,' he thought. " How much time have you been given to finish?"

"4 days," Orihime replied, a small frown forming on her lips. Obviously, she felt that such a feat would not be possible.

He glanced at her and then at the papers stacked next to her and then glanced back at her again. If it had been Ulquiorra that had been given that much paperwork (not that he would have been), it would have been more than possible for the work to be done in that amount of time. However, she was a human; she needed to eat, sleep, and go to school, among other things, and this left her with very few hours in the day to work on the stack beside her. He had decided.

" That is not humanly possible."

That being said, he stood from the table and walked over to the only window in the room, staring at the moon. Or, at least, he **tried** to stare at the moon. There were two things that were keeping him from doing so. One was the fact that the moon was not visible because of the clouds that had covered it. The second, and perhaps the most distracting of the two, was the fact that he found his gaze drifting to the girl sitting hunched over at the table, going through the stack of makeup work at a surprisingly fast rate. He frowned deeply.

' What is it about this woman that attracts me to her so? I am like a moth to a flame when it comes to her. If I am not too careful, she will bring about the end of me,' he thought bleakly.

He continued shifting his gaze between whatever objects he could find outside the window and Orihime. After about an hour, he sensed her stand up from the table and stretch, expressing her satisfaction as her muscles loosened themselves. He could feel her stare at him for a moment before he heard the blonde fukutaichou call to her. Sparing a quick glance, he saw that she had followed Matsumoto to the next room. Ulquiorra could hear their voices from where he was standing. Deciding that it was not worth his time to listen to what they were discussing, he continued to stare out the window until he sensed the trio moving towards him. He turned his head towards the direction he knew they would be coming from and saw the three enter the room. Orihime had a look of guilt on her face; He stared at her suspiciously.

" Um, Ulquiorra. Can you come here for a second please?"

Every fiber in his being sensed that it would be in his best interest not to move. The fact that she refused to meet his gaze solidified the fact. No. Whatever the reason was that she wanted him to come closer, he knew that it would not be a good one. He would stall her until she decided to drop the issue altogether.

" If you don't come here willingly, we can always use force and drag you over here ourselves, you know."

Ulquiorra glanced at the blonde and her white haired companion coldly before he began to walk towards the three, stopping a few feet away from them. He tried again to get Orihime to look at him, but her eyes were focused on the remote control-like device in the palm of her hand. She pushed the button in the center and he saw threads of reiastu come out from the button he had moved. They wrapped around him tightly, binding his arms and legs to his body. He could feel that he was losing his balance and, without warning, he started to fall face first until he hit the ground. He blinked. He could hear Matsumoto's laughter from above him and felt the urge to kill rise in him at an alarming rate.

"I'm… so…sorry…Ulqui…orra…Here, let…me…help…you," he heard Orihime say through her giggles. It didn't bother him the same way Matsumoto's laughter had, however.

He then felt three sets of hands flip him over so that he was on his back and he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her walk about a half a foot towards him and then sit down, staring at him intently.

" What do you think you are doing, woman?" he demanded, a bit wearily. ' Haven't you gained enough pleasure from my embarrassment?'

" I'm waiting until this…whatever this is wears off."

He resisted the urge to look at her. She truly confused him. He was her enemy. The one that had kidnapped her, told her terrible things about the nakama that she held so dear, and almost killed the boy that she loved. Yet here she was, sitting next to him until whatever she had done wore off. He closed his eyes.

"Foolishness."

Orihime let out a small giggle, causing him to turn his head and stare at her. She was smiling ever so slightly, her eyes bright in the pale moonlight that had begun to filter in through the window. He turned his head back up to stare at the ceiling, waiting until whatever technique she used on him wore off. After about an hour, he could feel the strings begin to loosen. Ulquiorra moved his arms and, pushing himself up into a sitting position, turned to look at her. She had apparently fallen asleep some time in the hour it had taken for the technique to weaken. Her skin looked flawless and her hair looked an even brighter orange than usual. In that moment, bathed in the moon's glow, nothing else existed to him. He stood up and looked down at her.

' She is going to be sore in the morning if she continues to sleep in that position,' he noted.

He debated on whether to move her into a more comfortable position but decided against it. Instead, he forced himself to walk towards the window that he had been staring out for most of the night, although this time his thoughts were drifting towards a certain shopkeeper. He muttered under his breath a promise to kill Urahara if he ever saw him again and decided to count up the number of ways that it could be done. Ulquiorra was up to 44 when he was interrupted by an obnoxious knock on the door. Looking up at the clock, he saw that it was 4:44 in the morning.

' That idiot redheaded shimigami. What does he think he is doing here at this time?' he thought irritably.

He could hear someone open the door, followed by a thwack to the head and Renji yelling obscenely. At the same time, he heard a moan and turned to see that Orihime had woken up from all the noise, looking around the room to figure out where it had come from. Her gaze finally stopped at him and she looked up at him with sleepy eyes. She stared at him for a few seconds before turning away. She then started lowering the upper half of her body to the ground and, lying on her side, went back to sleep.

' Yes. She is going to be really sore in the morning.'

* * *

" Matsumoto! What the hell was that for?!" Renji demanded, rubbing his head where Matsumoto had punched him. 

" The better question is, what the hell are you doing here so early in the morning, you idiot?!" she shot back, annoyed that her beauty sleep had been interrupted.

"Quiet, the both of you! And lower your voices," Hitsugaya ordered. " Now Renji. I'm assuming that you have just arrived back from Soul Society."

Renji nodded. " Yeah."

" And what was so important that you had to come here at this hour to tell us?"

" Well, first of all, I explained the situation to Yamamoto-taichou. After I could find him, that is. I asked everyone where I could find him but they all told me the same thing. 'He's busy preparing for the upcoming war. Whatever you have to tell him can wait till the preparations are finished.' The bastards…Anyway, Ukitake-taichou finally told me where I could find him. By the way, since when has Unohana-taichou made house calls?"

" RENJI!" the two exclaimed.

"Ok ok!" He said, holding his hands up defensively. " Anyway, I finally found him and told him everything that happened. He said that he would be able to come here in about a week."

" So, why could this not have waited until later this morning?" the white haired taichou asked, a vein popping out of his forehead.

" Yamamoto-taichou wants the three of us to return to Soul Society before the end of the day. He says that he needs everyone to be prepared for the upcoming war and that we can't do that here."

" What? What about Orihime-chan? We can't leave her alone with that…" Mastsumoto started worriedly.

Renji sighed. " I tried to tell him that. However, he said that the device that Urahara-san had given her, as well as Ichigo being here, just in case something happens, should be enough until he can come down."

" But Ichigo isn't always going to be around to protect her! He's also fighting the hollows that are increasingly appearing in the real world! Also, that Arrancar may figure out a way around the device and…"

" He also stressed that we should remember that…" He paused.

" That?" she asked nervously.

The redhead looked at her sadly. "That the fate of the world rests on this war and that we shouldn't let our emotions cloud our judgment. The loss of one life is worth it if billions are saved."

The two tenth squad members stared at each other and sighed. They knew what they had to do. It was an order from above and they had no choice but to follow it.

" We understand. We'll leave as soon as we explain to Orihime-chan the situation," Matsumoto replied, her hands tightly gripping each other.

* * *

She had never felt a shooting pain like this before in all her life. Pushing herself off the floor, Orihime could hear and feel the popping of her spine. She let out something between a moan and a groan while she tried to get the tightness out of her shoulders. 

" Oh! My back! Why was I sleeping on the floor?" she asked no one in particular.

" You fell asleep while waiting for whatever technique you used to reverse itself,' she heard a voice answer her monotonously.

Turning her head towards where the voice was coming from, she found Ulquiorra sitting at the table that she had previously been doing her homework. He stared at her blankly.

" Ah! Is that what happened?" She looked towards the clock. " Well, at least I have time to get ready for school."

Standing up, she made her way to the bedroom to take a spare uniform out from inside the closet. She took the clothes with her and made her way to the bathroom. Orihime didn't have enough time for a bath but decided that a shower would be good enough until later that evening. After she dried herself off, she put her uniform on and walked to the kitchen to eat breakfast. She saw that Ulquiorra was still sitting at the table, now staring at her unfinished homework.

" You know, Ulquiorra." She saw him look up at her and continued. " If you want, you can read some of the books on the shelf if you have nothing else to do. It's mostly some shojo manga and old textbooks, but…"

He nodded and, taking that as his answer, she went back into the kitchen and grabbed a quick bite to eat. When she was finished, she put on her coat and started stuffing the homework that she had finished in her school bag along with her writing utensils. Orihime then turned to go out the door and announce that she was off to school when she was stopped by the three shinigami.

"Ah! Abarai-kun! When did you get here?" she questioned.

" Orihime-chan, there's something we need to tell you before you leave," the blonde said, looking at the young girl sadly.

"Rangiku-san?"

" Yamamoto-taichou said that he would be able to come here in about a week," Hitsugaya explained. "However, he has ordered us to return to Soul Society to prepare for the upcoming war."

" I see…when are you planning on returning?"

" We don't want to leave the Arrancar by himself for the time that you are at school, so we will leave as soon as we sense that you are returning home."

She nodded, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She didn't want her friends to leave her all alone with Ulquiorra, who was listening to their conversation from where he was currently sitting.

"…So, I guess this is goodbye for now, huh?" she replied, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill. Matsumoto walked over to her and gave her a big hug. After a moment, she released her and the two males said their goodbyes. With that, she muttered quietly that she was off to school. The three walked over to where the green-eyed Arrancar was sitting. Renji pulled out a thermos-like container and tossed it at him.

"….What is this?" Ulquiorra demanded, eyeing the container suspiciously.

" Concentrated reiatsu. We wouldn't want you going crazy with hunger and start eating every soul in sight, now would we? There should be more than enough reisatsu in there to last you a week until Yamamoto-taichou can come and question you, " the redhead explained.

The trio waited a few minutes for Ulquiorra to respond. However, sensing that he wasn't going to say anything more to them, the three walked back to the room, packing up their supplies so that they could be ready to return to Soul Society. Ulquiorra let out a sigh and walked over to the bookcase that Orhime had mentioned to him earlier. He picked up a book and began to skim through it before deciding that it was not worth his time to read it.

' This must be one of those 'shojo mangas' that she had mentioned,' he thought, looking at the pictures of a man and woman hugging and kissing each other intimately.

Putting it back on the shelf, he started to read the other titles. His eyes stopped on a book entitled _Paradise Lost _and, grabbing the book from the shelf, he walked over to the table and began to read. After reading about a chapter in, the parallels between the main character of the book and Aizen were not lost to him.

' I wonder if Aizen has read this book as well,' he pondered.

After he finished reading the book, Ulquiorra placed it back on the shelf and noticed that one of the books had numbers decorating the cover in a similar design that had been on the worksheet that Orihime had been working on the night before. Picking it up, he began to read it and suddenly everything that he had seen her doing began to make sense. He was on his fourth textbook, this one about Japanese history, when he felt the three shinigami's reiatsu disappear. A moment after, he heard the click of the door as it opened and a certain orange haired girl walk in.

" I'm home," she replied, but not as energetically as she had yesterday. Taking off her shoes and coat, she walked over to the table, sat down, and placed her head down with a light thump. She stayed this way for a moment before lifting her head and staring straight at him.

" It's too cold outside. I wish it would hurry up and be spring already!" She pouted. Seeing that he was reading her old textbook, she asked him, " So, how was your day?"

He looked up from the book to look at her. Her eyes looked tired and her face was pink, most likely from the cold weather outside. Her hair was a bit messed up from the slight breeze, a few strands standing up in odd places.

" It was fine," he replied, returning to the book that he held in his hands.

She waited for him to elaborate but seeing that he wasn't going to, she began to talk.

" My day was ok. It was lonely, though. Sado-kun and Kuchiki-san and Kurosaki-kun still haven't come back to school yet, although…they were the most injured of the group, so I guess they won't be back until Monday. Ah! But Tatsuki-chan and Ishida-kun were there, so I was able to talk to them. Ishida-kun asked me if I was doing okay, what with you staying here with me and all, but I told him that everything was fine and…"

He glared at her. ' I know I did not ask her anything, so why does she continue to try talking to me?'

"Woman, what are you going on about?"

She looked at him, clearly annoyed." Why do you always call me 'woman'? I'm not really a woman yet, you know. I'm only sixteen," she replied.

Ulquiorra closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He knew this day would come eventually, although he had not expected it to be so soon. He continued to call her woman, even though he knew her name, because it was just one more way to emotionally distance himself from her. He had only called her by her name once, after the first time he had seen her in her Arrancar uniform, but that had been a tactic to intimidate her, not that it had worked as well as he had planned.

" Fine then," he replied, irritation starting to make its way into his voice, " Inoue Orihime."

Her frown deepened. " That sounds weird if you keep calling me by my full name all the time. Not to mention, it's really long. Anyway, I only call you Ulquiorra so it should be the same for me, right?"

" Alright then…Inoue."

Orihime smiled brightly at him and he found himself startled by its sudden appearance.

' I wonder if I will ever get used to her smiles,' he mused.

He was about to return to his book (he only had a few pages until he was finished, after all) when she started talking to him again.

" And you're supposed to ask how someone's day was if they ask you first."

" What?" Ulquiorra asked, confused.

" You asked me why I was still talking. Well, I asked you how your day was and you told me that it was fine. Then, you should have asked me about how my day was and then I would tell you all about it," she explained, pointing a finger in the air.

Human customs were so bewildering to him. " Why? Why do you have to ask someone how their day was even if you have no interest in what had happened to them whatsoever?"

Orihime shrugged. " I don't know. That's just the way it is. You ask someone how their day was and when they are done telling you about it, they ask you. It's just the polite thing to do."

Ulquiorra sighed. Marking his place in the book, he set it down on the table and looked at her. She looked back at him, a look of confusion spreading on her face.

"Inoue, how was your day?"

Her eyes brightened at his words and her smile grew even wider. He couldn't believe that something as simple as asking how her day was could make her so happy.

" I'm so glad you asked, Ulquiorra…" she started, going into even more detail about her day.


	5. Chapter 5

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be hinted at later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,311  
Warnings: Noitora's potty mouth

* * *

Orihime could feel her body switching from blissful sleep to semi-consciousness of the world around her. Her eyes were still closed; she refused to open them. Today was a Saturday, a day when she was supposed to sleep in until almost noon and stay in her pajamas. Her body would have none of that, however. Opening one eye to look at the clock on the side table next to her bed, she noted that it was 7:04 in the morning. She groaned. 

' Uh, it's too early to get up now!'

She turned over to lay on her other side, eyes still closed, and tried to go back to sleep. After about half on hour of trying, Orihime decided to give up and get out of bed. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she dragged herself to the kitchen, almost knocking a pile of books over in the process.

' Funny. I don't **remember** them being here when I went to bed last night…' she thought, trying to figure out how the books had made their way into the middle of the room overnight. Suddenly, an image of her books sprouting arms and legs, walking towards the middle of the room, made its way into her mind.

" Are you always this clumsy or just in the morning?" she heard from behind her, the voice somewhat mocking. She turned to see that Ulquiorra was sitting at the table she had left him at last night, still reading. Apparently, he was the reason for the books in the middle of the room. She looked at the title of the book he was reading; it was one of her textbooks from last year.

" Are you still reading?" He nodded, still focusing on the words in front of him. " How many more do you have left to read?" she asked.

" This is the last one from the shelf, seeing as how I have no desire to read those 'shojo manga' that you mentioned before," Ulquiorra replied, closing the book and setting it down on the table.

" EH?! R-Really?! You finished that many books in such a short period of time?! Amazing!" Her eyes widened considerably, looking at the large stack of books.

' I can't believe that he finished all those books in one night!' she thought.

He stood up and, taking a large portion of books from the stack, made his way the bookshelf, putting them away in an orderly fashion. She started to make her way over to help him when he stopped her.

" There is no need for you to help. This is nothing that I cannot handle," he told her, returning to replace more books on the bookshelf.

' Why do I get the feeling that he just doesn't want me to mess up the order he is arranging the books?' she thought, slightly amused at his antics.

Deciding to let him have his way this time, she walked over to the kitchen and took out some red bean paste and some bread. After she cut a couple of slices for herself, she spread some of the paste on and placed the slices on a plate. She walked over to the table and was about to ask Ulquiorra if he would like some when she remembered that Arrancar didn't eat.

'It's so hard to remember that he isn't human,' she noted, taking in his appearance, ' especially since he looks so humanoid…'

He returned to his seat in front of her and watched her as she ate her breakfast. He then grabbed a thermos like-container that she hadn't noticed before, opened the lid, and began to…well, she wasn't sure, actually. He appeared to be breathing in whatever was in the container. She stopped eating and, for once, she began to stare at what he was doing. When it appeared that he had had enough, placed the lid back on and placed the thing beside him.

" What…what was it that you...had, Ulquiorra?" she questioned, slightly unsure if she really wanted to know the answer.

" Concentrated reiatsu. Those shinigami gave it to me before they returned to Soul Society. A preventitve measure to keep me from losing my mind from hunger and devouring thousands of souls, although not necessary."

' How disturbing,' she thought, barely able to repress a shudder. " I see."

Orihime finished the first slice of bread and was about to start on the second one when she noticed him staring at some corner of the wall. It was the wall that once held the big transmitter, although now it looked unusually bare without the large thing covering it.

" Um, if you want to take a bath again, you can," she replied, fidgeting slightly. " Just…leave the water and cover it so it doesn't get cool, ok? I still need to take a bath too, you know."

He gave her confused look when she said this, although she wasn't entirely sure why.

" Do you not re-use the bath water in Hueco Mundo?" she asked. She didn't know because when she had been staying there, she had had her own bathroom.

' Maybe they only take showers? They seem to be very busy, so maybe baths aren't an option. Although, I guess they wouldn't really have to worry about a water bill in Hueco Mundo.'

"No. No one would want to use the same bath water as someone else…especially after Noitora," he said cryptically.

With that, he stood up and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. She could hear the sound of the water as it began to fill the tub. With one last bite, she finished her breakfast and washed her plate. Then, she walked to her bedroom, made her bed and pulled out the clothes that she would wear for the day. She decided on something simple, seeing as how she would most likely be stuck inside the whole day, finishing up the last bits of her makeup work. By some miracle, she had been able to finish a good eighty-five percent of it over the course of two days, leaving the hardest ones for later.

' Which means that I will be able to go out tomorrow and get some errands done,' Orihime thought happily. ' I need to stock up on more food.'

Passing by the door of the bathroom, she realized that Ulquiorra only had that one set of clothes to change into. She hadn't thought to buy more than one set of clothing, figuring that he would not have been staying with her for very long.

" Oh dear. I guess this means that I will have to buy a couple more sets of clothes as well," she said to herself. " Although…even if I **can **figure out what would fit him, it's really hard to imagine how the clothing would look on Ulquiorra without him actually being there to try it on."

" Inoue, what on earth are you going on about?" he asked, toweling off his wet hair.

" Oh," she replied, turning to look at him, " I was just thinking out loud that you will be needing more clothes. You can't keep wearing those same ones every day." A brilliant thought passed through her mind and she glanced up to him, smiling.

" Ulquiorra…" she started, noticing a slight look of discomfort on his face. " Why don't you and I go out tomorrow? I have some errands that need to be done anyway and that way I can figure out what would work best for you! "

" I see that you have not noticed the device on your front door that prevents me from leaving the apartment," he said.

Walking up to the door, Orihime noticed that there was indeed a device on her door, a small button that matched the one that Ulquiorra was currently wearing. Unlocking the door, she took a hesitant step outside and felt…nothing. Frowning, she turned to him.

" Are you sure? Because I was able to come out just fine," she told him, pointing a finger to herself.

He closed his eyes. " Apparently you did not hear me. I said that the device would not let **me** out." To prove his point, he raised his hand in order to reach outside the door, only to be stopped by a force field that the button on the door was creating, crackling with a purple glow. He pulled his hand back.

" Hm," she mumbled, placing a finger to her lips. " Well, how about we try this?" Upon saying this, she grabbed him arm and began to pull him through the threshold.

" This is not going…to…work." As he finished, he found himself on the other side of the threshold, Orhime still holding his arm. He turned to her, his eyes slightly wider than normal.

" How did you.."

She smiled. " I guessed. That settles that then!" She then pulled the two of them into the apartment. Letting go of his arm, she glanced at him and said; " I guess you don't have an excuse not to go with me tomorrow."

She skipped to her bedroom, leaving a bewildered Ulquiorra at the foyer. Grabbing the clothes she had set out on the bed, she made her way to the bathroom and locked the door. After washing herself off, she went into the tub, enjoying the feel of the warm water on her skin and how it loosened her shoulders.

' Kurosaki-kun…I wonder if he's doing ok…' she thought, closing her eyes. She thought of his bright orange hair and his kind brown eyes. How he looked in his shinigami uniform, the picture of a hero. Unexpectedly, she saw his hollow mask flash before her and her eyes popped open. She shuddered.

Shaking her head to dispel those thoughts, she stood up from the tub, draining the water. Drying herself off and getting dressed, she opened the door and walked over to the table where a considerably smaller stack of papers waited for her to finish. Orihime sat down and, looking at her paper, noticed something very peculiar. On the last paper that she had been working on the night before, there were pencil marks, correcting the mistakes that she had missed and marking in the correct answer. Looking through the others that she had finished, she noticed they all had similar marks.

'Wait. How did…'

" The answers that you gave were incorrect," Ulquiorra replied, seeing her look of puzzlement. She looked at him, tilting her head slightly. " Those are the correct answers beside it."

" Ulquiorra, did you…correct my homework?" she asked in disbelief. He continued to stare at her, although she thought she could see the wheels in his head turning as he glanced over the homework she had not yet finished.

Saying nothing, she changed her incorrect answers to his correct ones. When she was done with that, she grabbed her first undone assignment. Orihime began to work on it until she heard his voice interrupt her thoughts.

" That answer is incorrect. The correct answer is 42," he replied.

" Oh! Just like the answer to life, the universe and everything!" she said, correcting her answer.

"…What?"

She laughed slightly. " I see you didn't read all the books on the shelves. Just the textbooks. It's from _The_ _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy._"

Ulquiorra stared at her blankly and she laughed again. It continued like this, her working on her makeup work and him correcting her when she got an answer wrong.

* * *

"Blah blah blah. Honestly, I think Aizen-sama talks just for the sake of hearing himself talk," Noitora decided, looking at his companion for confirmation. He was greeted with silence. 

" Hey, I was talking to you, you know, Halibel." Noitora said, glaring at her.

" I know you were."

Muttering about females under his breath, he continued to walk with her down the halls of Las Noches. Everyone was preparing for the winter war that was fast approaching. He heard some of the lower Arracar giggle in delight at the thought.

' They all think this is a fucking game, do they? The bastards. They will be dead before the **real** fun begins,' he thought.

" So, what do you think the chances of Soul Society winning this war are? Five percent? Three percent? Or am I being too generous?"

She didn't respond. For a moment, he thought she was ignoring him again. He opened his mouth to say something crude to her when she started.

" Before the ryoka invaded, I thought the chances of Soul Society winning this war were slim to none, " Halibel explained." However, considering the recent events, particularly Ulquiorra helping the girl and her nakama escape, I think that Soul Society's chances of winning have risen considerably."

Noitora raised his eyebrow. "Weren't you the same one that said that he would never squeal on us?"

" Apparently, your memory is failing you Noitora. It was Stark that had said that, not I. Ulquiorra had been her guard while she was here. Before the ryoka invaded, there were rumors that he was starting to change…and that she was the one responsible."

" Bullshit. That little bitch, change? It's laughable. The guy's as cold as a fucking icicle. Anyway," he added, smiling at her slyly, " since when have you been one to listen to gossip, Halibel?"

She ignored his question. " All I'm saying is that we should not underestimate the power this girl has over him. You know what they say: Women weaken the heart."

" I don't know about that. Women 'strengthen' **one **thing, that's what **I** know for certain,' he said, leering at her.

When they reached her quarters, Halibel opened the door and walked into the room. He waited to hear the slam of the door behind her, signaling him to return to his own domain. After a few seconds, he realized the sound hadn't come. Looking back to where she had entered the room, he saw that the door was slightly ajar. Noitora's grin grew even wider. Grabbing the handle, he walked in and shut the door behind him.

* * *

Thanks to Ulquiorra continually pointing out her mistakes, it had taken even longer for her to finish her assignments than it should have. Nonetheless, she was thankful that everything would be correct. After a quick dinner, she sat at the table and stared back at him. 

' It had been a lot easier when I was working on my makeup work,' Orihime decided. 'At least then I had something to focus on.'

Looking around the room to find something to occupy her mind, her gaze stopped on the family shrine where her brother's picture now sat. Walking over to it and kneeling down, she closed her eyes, placed her hands together, and began to pray. After a few minutes, she heard Ulquiorra's footsteps getting closer to her. Finishing her prayer, she looked up to see that he was staring at the picture questioningly.

" My brother," she offered. "When I was really young, he left my parents' house and took me with him. He was the one who raised me and took care of me for most of my life. But then, when I was in junior high, he died. Earlier this year, he came back as a hollow and tried to take me away with him so that he wouldn't be lonely. In a way, you kind of remind me of him."

He was about to say something when she interrupted him.

" But I know you're not him. During that time, Kurosaki-kun came and purified my brother's soul, sending him to Soul Society." Orihime thought she saw Ulquiorra's eye twitch at Ichigo's name but decided that she must have imagined it.

' It's like Ulquiorra is wearing a mask. Although, sometimes, it feels like I can see something other than that blank, cold stare he usually has.'

They stayed like that for a few minutes, just being in each other's company before she stood up, walked over to the couch that was in a corner of the room, and sat down. She patted the seat next to her, indicating that he come over and sit as well. Walking toward her slowly, Ulquiorra sat himself down as far away as he could from her and still be on the sofa.

' No matter what he does, its always graceful and elegant,' she noted. ' The way he walks, the way he sits, and even the way he reads!'

Orihime looked at him and saw that he was staring back at her. She cleared her throat.

" So, Ulquiorra," she started, interpreting his look as his way of telling her to start the conversation, " do you remember anything from your life as a human?"

' Might as well ask,' she thought, ' After all, the worst he could say is that it's none of my business and that will be that.'

So she was slightly surprised that, when he replied, he didn't respond in the manner she thought he would.

" Not much. I only remember bits and pieces of it," he replied, closing his eyes. " A young woman, a few years older than you. A man telling me to dispose of 'it'. And blood. A lot of blood."

Her eyes widened, clearly surprised that he had answered her question in such a straightforward manner. After getting over the initial shock, she thought about what he had said, trying to piece together what he said in her mind. Now matter how much Orihime thought about it, it didn't make any sense to her.

" What did the man mean by 'dispose of it'?" she asked.

" I am not certain."

"Do you remember anything else other than that?"

" No. I try not to think about it. Every time I do, I get a sharp pain through my left eye," he explained. " Although, I get the feeling that whatever happened then is the reason why I have the powers I have now."

Before Orihime could ask what powers he was talking about, Ulquiorra took his left eye out and showed it to her. She looked at it, surprised that she was not more disturbed that he was holding his eyeball in his hands. He placed it back into its socket, explaining that if he broke his eye, it would shatter and allow other people to experience what he experienced.

" In the end, it does not matter. My past life as a human is done and over with. There is no need to dwell on it," he stated resolutely.

" But you shouldn't forget the past altogether, Ulquiorra," she said and he turned his head towards her. " Time isn't linear, you know; it's a spiral and things can repeat themselves over and over again. If you forget about the past, how can you know that you will not make the same mistakes again in the future?

She thought she saw a look of amusement pass on his face but as soon as it appeared, it was gone again.

"…Perhaps."

Looking up at the clock, Orihime saw that it was close to midnight and decided to call it a night.

" What are you going to do now? You've already read all the textbooks I own."

"…I will find something to occupy my time," he replied.

Telling him goodnight, she walked into her bedroom and changed into her pajamas. She slid under the covers of her bed and ran through the events of the day in her head.

' Maybe he isn't as cold as I once thought he was after all,' she decided, a small smile forming on her face.

* * *

A/N: Just in case you don't know, it's not uncommon for families in Japan to share the bath water with one another. Also, when they have guests over, the guests go first so that they have the fresh water. Considering Orihime is most likely living on a budget, it makes sense that she would want to conserve water. 


	6. Chapter 6

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be hinted at later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,439

* * *

Ulquiorra stared at the book he had just finished reading through, four times, and still didn't understand. _The_ _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_. He should have known that any book that she recommended would be nonsense. He had been sitting at the table, waiting for Orihime to finish getting ready for the last hour and a half. 

' Honestly, how long can it possibly take her to put on clothes?' he wondered.

He finally heard the door to her bedroom open and turned his head to look at her. She was wearing a long brown skirt with boots underneath and a pink turtleneck sweater with a heart patch stitched on at the bottom. A small bag was hanging from her shoulder. He stared at her for a minute or two before he snapped himself out of his trance. He eyed the scarves in her hands, a red one and a dark green one.

" Here," she said, offering him the green one. " You put it around your neck so you don't get cold."

Ulquiorra stared at it, thinking: ' How is one supposed to wear this thing?'

He watched as she wrapped it around her neck in an intricate fashion and saw her turn towards him. He then proceeded to follow her movements exactly and put his scarf on, although he was fairly certain that he wouldn't need it; temperature did not affect Arrancar. However, it was easier to just put the scarf on than to try and explain this to her and see her look of disappointment when she found out.

" Alright then. Keys. Purse. Coat," she marked off, reaching for her coat.

Orihime shut off all the lights in the apartment and made her way to the door. He followed her until they were in the foyer. After putting on their shoes, she linked her arm into his and he felt a warm feeling spread where her arm was touching his. Ulquiorra's face became unusually warm.

' It must be the scarf,' he decided, putting the issue to rest.

Lightly pulling him over the threshold, they exited the apartment. She unhooked her arm from his for a moment to lock the door and then linked arms with him again. He saw a person a couple of doors down wave to her and she waved back at them enthusiastically.

" Ah! Orihime-chan! How have you been?" the older woman asked. " It's been so long since I've seen you! A little over two weeks, right? Are you alright?"

Orihime scratched the back of her head nervously. " Yes, I'm alright. Thank you for asking, Honda-san!"

The older woman stared directly at Ulquiorra and cupped her hand to her mouth, leaning in toward Orihime.

"Orihime-chan? Who is that good looking fellow you are linking arms with? Your boyfriend? Also," she said, taking in Ulquiorra's mask, " what is that thing on his head and why is he wearing such strange makeup?"

His eyes widened. ' Boyfriend? I may be male but I most definitely **not** her friend,' he thought bitterly, glaring at the woman. ' More importantly, how is it that this woman is able to see me? I can sense that she does not have much reiatsu, so she should not be able to do so…unless...' He looked down to where the button was under his shirt.

" Goodbye, Honda-san!" Orihime exclaimed, pulling him along. When they were far enough away from the apartment, she turned towards him questioningly.

" Ulquiorra, what was that about? How was Honda-san able to see you?"

He waited a second before responding. " I think it has to do with the device that Urahara Kisuke gave those two shinigami." Seeing that she was still confused, he explained further. "When he handed them the remote control device to give to you, he also gave them something that would seal my reiatsu. Apparently, it also allows humans, regardless of how much reiastu they have, the ability to see me."

" But, I don't understand. Why would that be a good thing?" she asked, turning her eyes up to help her think of an answer.

" I am not certain," he replied. ' All I know is that there is going to be one less shinigami in the world very soon.'

Somewhere in the back of Urahara's store, a sneeze was heard.

" What did you tell her?"

" Ah! I just explained that you are a family friend from Germany who is visiting with me while you are on vacation." He nodded. " I also explained to her that your mask was a hat. I couldn't really give her a good explanation for your tear marks, though."

Ulquiorra shook his head slightly, " That is fine."

The walk to the shopping district was relatively peaceful, except for the one girl who tried to latch herself onto Ulquiorra and take him home with her. Needless to say, it took a bit of persuasion on Orihime's part to keep him from killing the girl immediately.

" I know that it wasn't right for her to try and latch onto you like that, but that does **not** give you an excuse to kill her," she said, trying to reprimand him and failing, " Anyway, she was a foreigner. She probably didn't know any better. Although, I wonder which anime character she thought you were…"

He hmphed quietly. He tried to relax himself but being around this many people at one time was starting to wear on what little nerves he had and fast. He could see them all scurrying about, a couple of them taking notice of him and the strange mask that he had on his head. Suddenly, he felt her pull his arm lightly, pointing to a shop with her free hand. He noticed that it was a clothing shop.

" Let's go in here, Ulquiorra!" Orihime chirped. " We should get you clothes first, anyway. We wouldn't want any food to get bad."

" You are going to pay for the clothing again. I do not want to be indebted to you."

She smiled. " It's nothing! Anyway, I'm not technically the one buying the clothes this time. Rangiku-san and Hitsugaya-kun gave me an allowance, from Soul Society, for me to use for this purpose. Apparently, they knew that I would have to buy more clothes for you."

Before he could object, she pulled him into the store and he heard the light ringing of a bell that was on the door. There were many different kinds of clothes here. Some of the clothing was more traditional, and he saw a pair of hakama lying in a corner of the store. Most of the clothing, though, was similar to the ones he was currently wearing.

" Welcome! What may I help you with today?" a young woman, a little older than Orihime, asked him. He could see her eyes move up and down his frame in a way he figured she thought was an inconspicuous manner.

" Yes, please. We need to buy some more clothes for him to wear." Orihime replied, unlinking her arm from his and gently pushing him in the direction of the clerk.

" I see. Sir," she said, turning to Ulquiorra, " could you please remove your hat?"

Ulquiorra stared at the woman blankly.

"Errr…" he heard Orihime say, " He…can't. Because, you know…he has…bed head!"

" I see. Well, let me see what I can do for you."

When the woman turned around, he shot Orihime a glance that clearly asked her what the hell she thought she was doing. She shrugged. She leaned closer to him and cupped her hand around her mouth.

" Well, I didn't see you trying to come up with an excuse," she whispered. He saw the clerk return with a large bundle of clothes in her hands that threatened to overwhelm her.

" Here sir. Let's see if any of these will work for you," she replied with a smile. Ulquiorra ignored it, following her to the back of the store where the dressing rooms were. She handed him about half of the clothes in her arms and put the rest in a chair next to the dressing room door. She then returned to where Orihime was.

" Do you not wish to see how your boyfriend looks while he is trying on clothes?"

Orihime blushed and looked away from the clerk. " He's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend. I guess I'll go and see how the clothes look, in any case."

The two women walked back to where Ulquiorra was and waited for him to come out. After a few moments, they looked toward each other, confused.

" Ulquiorra? Are you not going to come out and let us see how the clothes look on you?" she called to him.

"…No."

" Please?"

They heard him sigh and saw the door open, revealing himself to them. He was wearing dark, tight jeans, and a white button down shirt with a blue button down sweater over it. He did not look happy about the situation. He did not mind the top so much, but the bottoms…No. Ulquiora saw both women's faces turn a bright red, although Orihime's was much redder than the clerk's standing next to her.

' Is she becoming ill again? I understood humans were frail, but…'

" So, how do you like this outfit, sir?" the clerk asked, her face still a little flushed.

" The shirt and the sweater are acceptable," he replied in as short and quick a manner as possible.

" And the pants?"

" No."

" Why not, Ulquiorra?" Orihime asked.

He closed his eyes and replied, deadpanned, " There is a higher probability of Aizen wearing a tutu than me ever wearing these pants again."

She burst out laughing, clutching her sides as tears trailed down her cheeks. When her laughter had died down, Orihime looked back at him. " Ulquiorra, how do you know about tutus?"

"You remember Luppi, correct?" She nodded, surprising him. He had not expected her to remember the former sexta Espada, considering the only time that she had ever seen him was when Grimmjow had gutted him. " Well, let's just say that he had some very…interesting…hobbies…"

A wide grin spread across her face, " I see."

The clerk looked at the two with confusion but said nothing. In the end, Ulquiorra had enough sets of clothes to last him a week, which included the hakama and kimono, the only thing that he had shown any interest in buying. When they were done purchasing the clothes, Ulquiorra grabbed the bag and the two exited the store only to run into a familiar face.

" Ishida-kun!" she exclaimed, running up to him, a bright smile on her face.

He pointed a finger to something over her shoulder, which turned out to be Ulquiorra. "I-Inoue-san! What is he doing here with you? Did he threaten you in any way?"

He looked her over, looking for any signs of injuries that the former cuatra Espada might have inflicted on her while Ulquiorra walked over to Orihime's side. Finding nothing, Ishida returned his gaze to her, waiting for her answer.

" We're just shopping for some extra clothes for Ulquiorra. I only bought him one set the first time and he can't be wearing the same clothes every day, you know," she explained.

Ishida's mouth dropped. "Buy..ing…Wait a minute! Inoue-san! You know he's still our enemy, rig…"

" I'm sorry, Ishida-kun. We don't rally have a lot of time to talk right now. We need to get to the grocery store before it closes for the day or else I will have to go out again during the week!" the orange haired girl interrupted. " I'll see you tomorrow at school, ok?"

With that, Orihime took off, leaving the two males to stare at where she had once been standing. The two turned to each other and glared.

" If you hurt her, Arrancar, I swear…"

" Why did you not tell her about your feelings for her?" Ulquiorra demanded, his eyes getting colder by the second.

" What are you talking about?" Ishida asked suspiciously.

" Hmph. Human, it is obvious that you harbor feelings for her."

" Even if I do, what business is that of yours?" he shot back.

Ulquiorra started to walk towards the direction that Orihime had ran towards and turned to face the young Quincy.

" I want to know how much of a threat that you, as a potential rival, pose." He looked the boy over once. " Not much," he finished, starting to walk once again towards the direction Orihime was headed.

" Hey! What's that supposed to…WAIT! RIVAL!?!"

* * *

After catching up with Orihime, which didn't take him long considering he could sense her reiastu easily, they made their way to the supermarket. Once inside, he noticed that she was putting a hodgepodge of items in her basket, none of which seemed to go together. To Ulquiorra, anyway. 

" Inoue." She turned to him from the slice of fish that she had been looking at. " What do you intend to make with the food that you have?"

She smiled sadly. " Ah. Well, you see, when you live on a budget, you really don't have the option of being picky with what food you get to buy."

Looking at the items she had, he noticed that they were all less than 700 yen. His frown deepened.

' So, she has learned to adjust her sense of taste to accommodate her budget,' he thought.

After purchasing the food for the week, they exited the store and began to return to her apartment. They could hear yelling a few feet in front of them and were surprised to see that the ruckus was coming from Ichigo and Rukia. The two were walking close to each other and they were having an argument of some kind. Ulquiorra turned to look at Orihime but saw that she was focusing on the pair in front of them.

' Kurosaki-kun. He looks so…happy,' she decided.

Even though they looked like they were having a heated argument, she knew that both of them were enjoying it, particularly Ichigo. His eyes were bright and she knew that the smile on his face was a genuine one. She heard his laughter and closed her eyes to revel in it.

' Kurosaki-kun…' she thought sadly, feeling tears begin to form in her eyes.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to find Ulquiorra looking at her with an odd look on his face.

" Come. We need to return."

Nodding, the two began to make their way to her apartment, hoping not to catch the eyes of the two shinigami in front of them. They had no such luck.

" AH! YOU!" Ichigo screamed, pointing towards Ulquiorra and gaining the attention of everyone around them.

" Kuro…" she started before Ulquiorra cut her off.

" Inoue is not feeling well. She needs to return home," Ulquiorra said, pushing her away from the orange haired boy and closer to the apartment building.

" Hey! Wait a minute! Where the heck do you think you're going, you bastard?" Ichigo shouted, running after them before Rukia stopped him.

" That's enough, Ichigo. Do you really want to cause a disturbance here, in front of all these people?" she asked, pointing to the people around them staring at them awkwardly.

" But what was he doing out of her apartment?" Ichigo asked, in a more normal voice this time. " I though Urahara-san said that he had put something on Inoue's door to keep him from getting out."

" I don't know. Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's a good one," Rukia replied. " More importantly…"

"What?"

She stared toward the direction the two were heading to. " Since when did he start calling her by her name?"

* * *

After they returned to the apartment and put everything away, Orihime ate her dinner in silence. The silence was beginning to unnerve Ulquiorra. It was not that he did not like it; in fact, he relished it. However, when it came to a certain orange haired girl, silence and her mixed as well as oil and water. 

'She hasn't been this quiet since she was in Las Noches,' he noted.

" What is wrong?" he said, startling her.

She plastered a grin on her face. " Nothing is wrong, Ulquiorra."

She turned away from him and washed her plate. When she was done, she walked over, sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her, like she had done the night before. He walked over and sat down, sparing her a glance. He could see that she was still wearing that fake smile of hers. He tried to make eye contact with her, but she avoided his gaze.

" Stop it," he demanded.

" Stop what?"

" Stop smiling."

" Why?" she asked, " Why should I stop smiling if I'm happy? You don't make any sen…"

" You're not," he said firmly. Silence. " You were quiet on the way back here. You were quiet when you put everything away. You were quiet when you ate dinner. And more importantly, you refuse to look me in the eyes." He sighed and forced her to look at him.

" Inoue," he said, turning her face up so that she was looking at him. " What is wrong?"

She could feel the tears fill her eyes and broke eye contact with him. She stared at the floor, hoping not to cry. She would cry later in her room. She refused to let herself cry here in front of him.

" It's because of Kurosaki Ichigo, isn't it? The way he and that shinigami were acting around each other, correct?"

Orihime looked up at him, her eyes wide. She bit her lip and swallowed the lump that had been forming there. She nodded slightly. Her body started to shake slightly.

" When I saw them together…when I saw Kurosaki-kun with Kuchiki-san, he looked so happy. I'm glad that he was happy. I'm glad that Kuchiki-san can make him happy…it's just…**I** wanted to be the one to make him smile like that and make his eyes brighten that way."

Ulquiorra said nothing.

" I guess…. I just wanted Kurosaki-kun to love me," she said, wiping the tears that were now running down her face, " like he does Kuchiki-san."

Orihime placed her head in her hands and started to weep, her shoulders shaking. Ulquiorra stared at her and then, closing his eyes, sighed.

" Foolishness." She looked up with teary eyes and turned towards him. "You should not desire for someone to love you like they would another. You should be loved for who you are," he finished.

She looked at him, her mouth slightly parted in shock. Suddenly, she launched herself towards him and started to cry again. He stiffened at the unfamiliar touch but did not push her away. After a few minutes, she pulled herself away, her face flushed.

" I'm sorry," she said with a sniffle.

" Do not apologize."

She looked at him at him and laughed lightly. " Your shirt," she said, pointing.

Ulquiorra looked down and noticed that her tears had stained his shirt. She opened her mouth to apologize until she saw his hard stare and stopped herself.

" I'm really tired. I think I'm going to go to bed early." She began to make her way to the bedroom. " Goodnight, Ulquiorra."

" Goodnight, Inoue."

She stopped walking and turned around. She stared at him in disbelief.

' That's…. the first time that he's ever returned my "goodnight"…'

Suddenly, she felt a small smile spread on her face. He nodded slightly, satisfied to see that she was not faking her smiles anymore. Orihime continued to walk towards the bedroom and shut the door. Putting on her pajamas, she covered herself with the blankets from her bed and began to think.

' You could have patted my head and told me that everything was going to be fine. You could have held me close and whispered words of comfort until I stopped crying. There is so much you could have said and done to comfort me, but…. in the end, your words are what I **needed** to hear.'

She looked up at ceiling, imagining the face of the green eyed Arrancar.

' Thank you, Ulquiorra.'


	7. Chapter 7

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with a bit of IchiRuki and some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be added later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,535

A/N: Just wanted to remind everyone that if you favorite/alert the story, please leave feedback as well. It really helps me know what I'm going right/wrong/could improve in the story…. and it's a great motivator.

Sorry this chapter is a little later than usual!

* * *

" Are you sure you won't be bored, Ulquiorra?" she asked him for the fifth time, putting on her shoes and grabbing her school bag. " I know you have read all the books in my apartment already and…" 

" I will find something to occupy my time. You do not have to dote on me as though I were a child," he replied, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.

Orihime frowned. She knew that he wasn't, but…it upset her to know that he would be alone in her apartment with nothing to do for at least 8 hours. She opened her mouth to ask him if he was **really** sure that he would be ok when he interrupted.

" Do not concern yourself with me. Besides, if you stay here any longer, you are going to be late," he said, his gaze moving to the clock on the wall.

" Ah! It's this time already!" she exclaimed. She opened the door and yelled a quick goodbye to Ulquiorra, leaving him standing in the center of the room. Walking over to the bookshelf, he picked up a random textbook and made his way to the couch. He opened the book and began to read it…again.

He sighed.' She is always going to arrive late to school, isn't she?'

* * *

Running all the way from her apartment to school in record time, Orihime arrived at school just before the last bell rang. Looking around the room, she noticed that everyone had come to school, just as she had predicted. She took a minute to catch her breath before she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her waist. 

" Hi—me-chan!" Chiyo exclaimed before she was knocked unconscious and slid to the ground with a light thump.

" She never gives up, does she?" Tatsuki asked, exasperated.

Tatsuki looked at Orihime and a mysterious smile spread on her face.

" Eh? Tatsuki-chan? What's…what's that smile for?" she asked apprehensively.

" I'm just glad to see you look so happy, Orihime."

Orihime was confused. She looked happy? But, how could that be so?

" What do you mean, Tatsuki-chan?"

" Well, for a few days after you got back, you looked so stressed out and depressed. I was starting to get really worried about you. But today…I don't know. You just look a lot happier, like a weight got lifted from your shoulders," she explained.

Orihime thought back over the events of the weekend. Ulquiorra helping her with her homework, in his own unusual way. Talking with Ulquiorra about her brother. Him telling her about a past that he could not grasp, no matter how hard he tried. The two of them going out shopping, meeting up with Ishida and Rukia and…Orihime closed her eyes, expecting to feel a sharp pain in her chest at the thought of Ichigo, but, much to her surprise, none came. She ran the image of the Rukia and Ichigo in her mind, over and over again. The two arguing with one another, smiling at the same time. And yet, no matter how many times she ran the scene through her mind, she felt no pain.

' I thought that when you fell out of love with someone that it was supposed to hurt,' she thought.

She glanced at Ichigo and Rukia talking peacefully with one another, for once. The two were smiling at each other with the same smiles they had, when she had seen them together yesterday.

" _For those five lifetimes, I'd fall in love with the same person."_

" But five lifetimes is nothing compared to eternity," she whispered softly, smiling at the memory of her farewell to Ichigo.

' No more.' She let her gaze stay on Ichigo a few seconds before she turned away. ' I wish you happiness…Kurosaki-kun…'

* * *

It was lunchtime before the group of friends was able to talk with each other. The five were sitting in a circle on the top of the roof. They had been eating their lunches in silence until Ishida and Ichigo stood up, pointing their fingers at Orihime. 

" Inoue! What the heck were you thinking, letting him out of your apartment like that?" Ichigo asked accusingly.

" Inoue-san, I have to agree with Kurosaki this time. It is much too dangerous to let him out and about, especially when he is still our enemy," Ishida added.

Orihime frowned. " The way you talk about Ulquiorra makes it sound like he's a dog or something."

Ichigo sighed. " If he were a dog, I wouldn't have a problem. But dogs don't suck out human souls and eat them."

" Ulquiorra doesn't have to eat human souls! Soul Society gave him a container of reiatsu to live on until Yamamoto-san comes over," she replied, defensively.

' Why does it bother me that they are treating Ulquiorra like this?' she pondered.

The Quincy put a hand to his forehead, rubbing it lightly in frustration. " Inoue-san, that is not the point. We are just concerned about you. He could have hurt you and so many others and we would have been powerless to stop him. Do you understand that?"

" Enough," Rukia ordered, shooting a glance at the both of them. " Inoue, what you did was dangerous, but there is no use in talking about it now. What's done is done. Just promise us that you won't let him out of the apartment again."

Orihime nodded. Ichigo and Ishida took their seats, sulking.

" How did he get out anyway? I know Urahara-san said that he put a device on the door that would keep him from leaving…" the orange haired shinigami pondered.

" Ichigo, I thought I told you to drop i…"

" I figured out a way around it!" Orihime replied cheerfully. The other four looked at her with disbelief, waiting for her to continue. " The thing is, I saw that the device would let me through. So, I thought that perhaps…if I held onto Ulquiorra and went over the threshold first, that maybe it would think it was just me and let both of us pass through. I didn't think that it would actually work, though."

The four of them stared at her blankly. A couple of minutes passed by before Rukia cleared her throat, gaining the other's attention.

" Ahem! Yes, well…apparently Urahara gave you a faulty device because I don't think that it's supposed to do that. I'll complain about that to him later," she replied, slightly irked at a certain storekeeper's reputation for having faulty products. "As I was trying to say earlier, there are more important things at hand."

They all looked at each other, a serious look on all their faces. They all knew what she was talking about.

" You mean the winter war…" Sado started.

" Yes. Just because we have rescued Inoue from Hueco Mundo doesn't mean that the war isn't going to take place. Aizen is going to have this war one way or another. As a result, we need to get back to training for when that time comes." She looked at the four of them grimly. " The fate of the world will be determined by this war."

The five of them sat in silence for a few minutes. They knew that this Winter War would come eventually, but it seemed to be coming much too soon for them. Knowing that everyone's existence rested on their shoulders didn't help make things any easier.

" So, should we resume what we were doing before we invaded Hueco Mundo? Training?" Ishida questioned.

" I think that would be the best thing to do. Inoue." Orihime turned her head to look at the Ichigo. " I think it would be best if you stayed out of this as much as possible. We don't know if Aizen will try to capture you again."

" Kurosaki-kun, I want to do whatever I can to help in this battle. I'm going to train as well," she replied, determined.

" Inoue-san," Sado interjected, " I have to agree with Ichigo this time."

Ishida nodded. " We still don't know what it is that Aizen wanted with you in the first place. He may try to capture you again, and, this time, succeed in using you for whatever his plans are."

She turned to Rukia, desperately looking for some support. The dark haired shinigami refused to look at her for a few minutes. Then, Rukia turned to her sadly.

" I'm sorry, Inoue. I have to agree with everyone else. I know you explained your reasons for fighting to me before, but…now that we know Aizen is after you and may still be after you, I'm afraid it would be best if we did not make it easy for him by having you out on the battlefield."

Orihime held back the tears that were forming in her eyes. Their words hurt, but…she knew they were right. She couldn't give Aizen the chance to take her back and use her powers for whatever he was planning. She got the feeling that he would not be as 'hospitable' as he had been before. Turning back to face the other four, she plastered a smile on.

" I understand. Please, be careful everyone," she said, feeling empty inside.

* * *

She walked slowly from school, dragging her feet along the way. Orihime still felt the sting of their words, just like she had when Urahara had first told her that she should not participate in the war. It was different this time, though, when she heard her nakama tell her. 

' Stop thinking about it,' she told herself, ' Moping about isn't going to make anything better.'

She looked to her left and saw that she was passing by the bookstore. She suddenly thought of Ulquiorra, cooped up in her apartment with nothing to do.

' I wonder what he did today. He probably read those textbooks…it must be getting really dull, reading the same thing over and over again.'

She had noticed that he enjoyed reading the one textbook in particular, her math book from last year. It made her shudder to think about it, considering that she couldn't stand the book when she was taking the class. How he could get enjoyment from reading it, she could only guess. Orihime stared at the bookstore for a few seconds before walking in, hearing the clerk at the front desk welcoming her. She looked around at different books, trying to figure out which he was most likely to read. It was a lot harder than she thought. Suddenly, a large book caught her attention.

' _Happiness Quantified: A Satisfaction Calculus Approach_. Hmm…'

She thought of the blank faced Arrancar and giggled a little bit.

' Maybe this will help him be more happy! He needs it, that's for sure!' she decided.

And with that, she took the book off the shelf and brought it to the clerk. The clerk eyed her warily before he scanned the book. Her eyes widened when she saw the price of the book, but she decided it was worth it. She was just thankful that she had some of the money that Soul Society had lent her to buy for his clothing. Taking the bag from the cashier with a grin, she skipped out of the store to her apartment, all her previous melancholy washed away.

' I really hope he likes it!'

Making her way up the stairs, she took her keys from her school bag and opened the door to the apartment.

" I'm home!" she exclaimed, taking off her shoes and running to the other room to find Ulquiorra reading the math book that she had used last year. She smiled, thinking of the book that she had in her hand.

' I've lost track of how many times he's read that book. Well, he won't have to read it anymore!' she thought cheerfully.

" How was your day, Ulquiorra?" Orihime asked brightly.

" Fine. How was yours, Inoue?" he responded, not taking the time to glance up from the book that he was reading.

" Ah. Well, my nakama and I had a meeting of sorts of what we should do…you know...to prepare for the upcoming war." She saw him nod and she continued. " They all decided that they should resume the training, like they had before they invaded Hueco Mundo. They also thought it would be best…if I just…" She stopped.

" They don't want you to fight," Ulquiorra said, closing the book and looking up at her. She nodded. " Foolishness."

"Eh? Ulquiorra…"

" Do you want to fight, Inoue?" he asked. She looked at him, a determined look on her face.

" Yes, I do. But…" Orihime started before he cut her off.

" I will train with you." The look in his eyes said that there was no debating the issue. She stared at him for a minute. She couldn't believe that he was willing to train her. In the end, she decided not to dwell over it. Orihime looked at him, smiling.

" Thank you, Ulquiorra." A pause. "Oh, I also stopped by the bookstore on my way home. Here, this is for you. I'm sure that you must be tired of reading that book over, so I bought you another one. Here."

She stood there, holding the book out to him. He took the book from her hands and read the cover, slightly amused at the title.

"_Happiness Quantified: A Satisfaction Calculus Approach_."

' I wonder if she is trying to tell me something…' he considered.

" Thank you, Inoue, although it was…"

" No," she interrupted, causing him to look up at her with a surprised look on his face. " I don't want to hear that it wasn't necessary or that you don't want to be indebted to me, because you're not. I bought that book for you because I wanted to."

He stared at her, bewildered.

' She really **is** such a strong woman,' he decided, echoing the thoughts he had when she first arrived at Las Noches.

" Thank you."

" You're welc…"

She was interrupted by a soft knock on the door. She looked at him, confused who it could be. Ulquiorra just stared back. Orihime didn't have many visitors and she didn't think that it would be one of her friends because she had just seen them a couple of hours ago at school.

' Maybe something has happened,' she thought, slightly panicked.

She rushed over to the door and opened it. To her surprise, it was not any of her friends, but instead it was…

" Y-Yamamoto-san! What are you…?" she started.

The older shinigami glanced at her. " Yes, I suppose I am here earlier than was planned. However, there are only a few more things that need to be prepared, and I can entrust those to the other captains," he explained. " Where is the Arrancar?"

" Ulquiorra," she said.

" Excuse me?"

She looked up at him, slightly annoyed. " His name is Ulquiorra. Not Arrancar."

Yamamoto regarded her for a few minutes and then cleared his throat. " Where is Ulquiorra?"

" I am right here," Ulquiorra answered, walking in from the other room. He glared at the older shinigami with disdain.

" Ah. I have some business with you later," the old taichou replied, glancing at the former Espada coldly. " But first, I have some business with you that I would like to get out of the way," he said, looking at Orihime. " Is there some place that we may talk in private?"

" Y-yes. Here," she responded, pointing a hand towards the room closest to the foyer. Ulquiorra made his way back to the other room and opened up the book that Orihime had bought him, preparing for whatever means the shinigami would use to try to get information from him. He was certain that whatever means the soutaichou planned to use on him, they would not be pleasant.

* * *

Sitting on the ground, Orihime stared at the first squad captain apprehensively. She could feel the weight of his gaze and his reiatsu on her, although she knew that his reiatsu was sealed for this visit to Earth. 

' I wonder what business he has with me.'

" How has it been, living with the Arran…Ulquiorra?" he corrected himself. " Not too much of an inconvenience?"

She placed a finger to lips and considered, " Well, at first it was kinda awkward. He really didn't talk to me much at all that first day. But, after a while, he started to open up and it became much better."

" Open up? In what way?"

Orihime's eyebrows furrowed. She wasn't sure that she liked the look on Yamamoto's face. It was a bit…**too** interested in what she had to say. The look in his eyes disturbed her because she had seen a similar look in Aizen's eyes when he had seen her powers first hand.

" Well," she started cautiously, " They weren't big things, really. He just…started talking to me more. Asking me more questions and things like that. Like, on Saturday, he told me that he could remember bits and pieces of his life as a human and then…"

" Did he mention anything else? Anything about Aizen or his plans? About the Arrancar?" he demanded, leaning in slightly.

Orihime frowned. She definitely did not like where this conversation was turning.

" Yamamoto-san, why are you asking me this?" she asked nervously.

He stared at her for a few seconds and responded. " I came down here in order to interrogate him and, hopefully, get some information out of the Arrancar that might prove useful in the upcoming war. However, even using my methods to remove information from him, there is not a 100 percent chance that I will be able to get anything out of him. However…you can get through to him."

" Eh?" she responded, her eyes widening.

" You have a much better chance of getting information out of him than I do. I read the report that Hitsugaya-taichou, Matsumoto-fukutaichou, and Abarai-fukutaichou all handed in. All of them had written that he refused to answer their questions, but you…"

He took a quick glance to the other room that Ulquiorra was currently residing. " You can get him to talk."

" What is it that you want me to do?" she replied shakily.

" Inoue Orihime. I want **you** to interrogate him. Ask him about the Arrancar, Aizen, and Aizen's goals. Anything that you think might give us an advantage in the winter war. Use any means necessary, although I doubt you will have to use anything extreme."

She looked down in her lap and considered what Yamamoto was asking her to do.

' Why do I feel so guilty, like I am betraying Ulquiorra?' she thought.

Looking up to face the old soutaichou, she answered, " I understand. I will try my hardest to get any information that will help Soul Society in the upcoming war."

Satisfied with her answer, the two stood up and Orihime led him to the door. He turned to face her one more time, holding a notebook in his hands. He handed it to her and she looked up at him questioningly.

" Whatever you write in that notebook will be directly sent to 12th squad. Remember, write anything down that may be useful."

He opened the door and turned to look at her one last time.

" Remember, the fate of the world rests on the outcome of this war." And with that, he closed the door and she felt his reiatsu disappear. Orihime stared at the notebook for a few more minutes. It seemed that everyone had to remind her of this fact, as though she were not aware of it herself. She walked into the room where Ulquiorra was sitting, staring at her. He could tell that something was wrong.

" What's wrong?" he asked.

She looked down at him and he could clearly see the guilt written on her face. Her eyes were starting to fill with tears, her face flushed. Ulquiorra looked at her and, seeing the notebook that she held in her hands, looked at her questioningly. Suddenly, she plastered a smile on her face, causing him to frown more deeply. He thought that she would have stopped faking her smiles by now.

" What did the shinigami who returned to Soul Society say?"

" Oh, Yamamoto-san?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. " He was just informing me that he'd be even more delayed because the preparations are taking longer than he had planned. So, he'll come whenever he is able! Anyway, I think I should get started on dinner."

Orihime turned on her heel and made her way into the kitchen, taking things out at random and putting them together. Ulquiorra watched her for a few minutes before he turned his attention back to his book.

' She's a terrible liar,' he decided resolutely.


	8. Chapter 8

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with a bit of IchiRuki and some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be added later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,199

Thanks so much for all the reviews, everyone! I really appreciate them! **glomps**

Here is chapter 8 for your reading pleasure. Chapter 9 should be posted on Saturday, for those who wish to know. Enjoy!

**EDIT** Hopefully clarified the 'what Aizen wants Orihime to do with the hougykou' issue.

* * *

Orihime sat across from him, eating whatever weird concoction she had thrown together. He was consuming the reiatsu that Soul Society had given him, a hard stare on his face. Ulquiorra was starting to become annoyed with that smile already. He wasn't sure why, but seeing her smile in such a fake way unnerved him. 

' It reminds me too much of a certain snake-faced shinigami who is currently residing in Hueco Mundo…it's so unnatural,' he thought.

He saw her stand up from the table and wash her dish, leaving it out to dry. She then walked back and sat down across from him, opening her mouth to speak.

" Hey, Ulquiorra." Orihime paused, apparently waiting for him to respond. When he didn't, she continued, " I've been thinking. When I was in Hueco Mundo, I remember hearing something about the top Arrancar and how they were called and numbered differently than everyone else. There were other things that I was dwelling on at the time, so I didn't really get to ask anyone, but…what exactly does that all mean?"

Ulquiorra regarded her for a moment, considering whether he should answer her question or not. Before he knew what he was doing, he could feel his mouth begin to move of its own accord.

" There are different Arrancar ranks under Aizen's control. There is a rank of Arrancar, for example, that are part of the division that is responsible for the execution of intruders. They are known as the Exequias, although I have only heard of their existence. I am not certain what numbers they are assigned. The next rank of Arrancar is the Privaron. These Arrancar were former members of the Espada who have lost their rank. They are assigned a three-digit number. Unlike the current Espada, the Privaron are 'naturally created' Arrancar."

Orihime looked at him, confused. Tilting her head to the side, she asked, " 'Naturally created' Arrancar? What do you mean?"

He sighed. " A good percentage of the Arrancar residing in Hueco Mundo are 'artificial created' Arrancar. Essentially, they were created using the powers of the hougyoku."

" I see. Sorry for interrupting. Please, continue," she said.

Ulquiorra glared at her when he heard her apology but continued, " The next rank is the Numeros. They are numbered from 11 to 99 and are the combat specialists. The 11th is the oldest numero while the 99th numero is the youngest. A subsection of the Numeros is the Fraccion, who serve under the Espada. The number of Numeros under an Espada varies. Most Espada only have a few Fraccion under their control, although a couple have more."

He paused, expecting her to interrupt him. Seeing that she didn't, he went on.

" The final rank of Arrancar is the Espada, the most powerful Arrancar in Aizen's army. They are numbered from one to ten, which is tattooed somewhere on their body," he finished, glancing to see if she understood all that he had told her.

Surprisingly, she did not appear to be confused. She looked at him.

" So, you were an Espada," Orihime stated.

"…Yes."

" So, that means that you had a Fraccion under your control?" she asked.

" Yes, although…. I never saw him very often."

She glanced up at him expectantly. When he didn't continue, she started again.

" What…what rank were you?" She looked down at her hands, waiting for his reply apprehensively.

Ulquiorra considered her for a few seconds before he sighed, causing her to look at him. Instead of telling her, he decided that it would be best to show her. He started to unbutton his shirt, noticing her eyes widen and a blush spreading across her face. Ignoring her reaction, he finished unbuttoning and opened his shirt up to reveal the 4 tattoo that was imprinted on his left breast, along with the device that Urahara had given him.

" Ulquiorra Schiffer," he replied mechanically, " …former cuatra Espada."

She stared at the mark for a few seconds before she brought her gaze back to his face. Orihime looked like she was going to ask another question, but, to his surprise, she didn't; instead, she smiled at him. He was confused.

" Thank you, Ulquiorra, for clearing that up. I'll be right back, ok?"

And with that, she got up from the table and made her way to the bedroom, leaving Ulquiorra at the table. Re-buttoning his shirt, he looked in the direction that she had headed towards.

' I get the feeling that this is going to be a long week,' he thought wearily.

* * *

It was about two hours before Orihime would wake, exclaim that she was late, and run off to, hopefully, make it to school on time. Ulquiorra was sitting on the couch reading the book that she had bought him yesterday. Surprisingly, he had not finished it over the course of the night, mostly because he was having difficulty understanding what the authors were talking about. 

' Even if this is mathematical and analytical, this book is analyzing a concept that is very difficult to grasp. Why is it so important to quantify happiness in the first place?' he pondered.

" Good morning, Ulquiorra," Orihime replied cheerfully.

Ulquiorra looked up from the book he was reading to find Orihime standing in front of him, smiling brightly. His book dropped to the floor and a bewildered look spread across his face. Upon seeing it, she let out a little laugh.

" You realize that you are awake two hours before you normally are, correct?" he asked, his eyes still wide from shock.

Making her way to the kitchen, she let out a little laugh. After she fixed her breakfast, she made her way to the table. She looked at him and waved her hand, indicating that he should come and sit down. Making his way to the table, he sat across from her. She remained silent for a few minutes before she spoke up.

" Hey, Ulquiorra. Who are the other Espada? I mean, I know that Noitora is the quinta Espada and that Grimmjow and Luppi were the sexta Espada…and you showed me yesterday that you were the cuatra Espada." At this, her face turned a little red but Orihime continued, " But what about the others? Who are the other espada?"

He looked at her.

' So, this is why she is awake so early.'

He explained to her that the older looking Arrancar and the darker-skinned one were the septima and tercer Espada respectfully. Seeing her nod in affirmation, Ulquiorra continued.

" Yammi, the large Arrancar, is the decima Espada. Szayel Aporro, the arrancar with pink hair, is the octava Espada. Halibel is the segunda Espada and the female of the group. Finally, Stark is the primara Espada, even though he is the least…motivated," he recited, glancing at her to see what kind of a reaction he would receive.

Standing up, she took her plate to the sink and washed it off. Orihime went back to the table, got her bag, and walked over to the foyer. Putting on her shoes, she opened the door and turned around to look at him.

" Thanks, Ulquiorra! Well, I'm off! Have a good day, ok?" she called back, leaving him staring at the place she had once been sitting.

' She does realize that school does not begin for another hour, according to what she has said previously, correct?'

* * *

When she had arrived home, slightly irked that Ulquiorra had not told her that she had left for school so early, he was expecting more of her questioning, only to be greeted with none. He then considered that, perhaps, Orihime would wake up early again in order to interrogate him. Not to his surprise, she was up at her regular late time, running around the apartment frantically. 

It was almost the end of the day and Ulquiorra decided that, perhaps, she had decided to stop asking him questions. It was after dinner and she was working on her homework, while he, of course, was pointing out her mistakes.

" Ulquiorra…" Orihime started.

He let out an exasperated sigh.

' It was wrong for me to assume that she would stop asking these questions, although…I am not obligated to answer them.'

" Yes, Inoue," he replied.

" Why do the Arrancar serve Aizen? I mean, I don't understand. There are so many and there's only one of him. Well, there's also the other two shinigami with him, of course, but…. I mean…there are thousands of Arrancar! You could easily overpower the three of them if you worked together," she pointed out, catching her breath after her long-winded explanation.

" The Arrancar serve Aizen out of fear," he started, looking at her oddly. " Their motivation for serving Aizen is that he promises them a life without that fear, whether it is the fear of death, the fear of boredom, and so on. However, once they are under his command, he uses that fear to keep them in line and loyal to him."

Orihime looked at him unhappily.

" Concerning your other point. Why do the Arrancar not rebel against Aizen when their numbers are vast? The reason is simple. Although he may be an enemy because he is a shinigami, we are enemies against ourselves. It would be highly unlike that the Arrancar would form alliances between one another."

She sat there, her eyes focusing on some spot on the wall in front of her, taking in all she had heard for a few minutes while Ulquiorra waited for her response. Standing up and walking to her bedroom, she glanced back at him.

" That's sad."

Orihime then continued walking to her bedroom and shut the door, leaving her homework on the table completely forgotten. Picking it up and staring it over, the green eyed Arrancar sighed.

' It is,' he agreed.

* * *

She was starting to unnerve him, with her oscillating between being extremely talkative and unnaturally quiet. Ulquiorra already figured out what she had been doing after the first time Orihime had started asking him questions, but he had answered her questions that time, thinking that once he gave an answer, she would be satisfied. This did not turn out to be the case. It wasn't until yesterday, when she asked him yet another question, that he decided that this question and answer session was going to be a daily occurrence. 

The thing that unnerved him most, however, was that he never knew when to expect her questions. Lying in the warm water of the tub, Ulquiorra tried to discern a pattern in her asking schedule.

' The first day she questioned me after dinner,' he recounted. ' The day after that, she woke up two hours early in order to ask her question before she had to leave for school. Yesterday…it was when she was working on her homework.'

He frowned. From what he could tell, there **was **no discernable pattern. He closed his eyes, thinking why he had even considered that a pattern existed in the first place.

' She is unpredictable…not only that, this woman is causing me to do things that I would not do under normal circumstances.'

He stared at his hand in front of him.

' Inoue Orihime. She's changing me…and yet…this thought does not bother me as much as I realize it should…' he considered.

Ulquiorra heard scuffling outside of the door and then silence. He stared at the door for a few seconds before he began to turn his head to stare at the tiles ahead of him when all of a sudden…

" ULQUIORRA!"

He groaned slightly.

' No. I **know** she is **not **trying to hold a conversation with me while I am taking a bath. No sane being would even consider doing such a thing,' he thought, feeling his eye twitch ever so slightly.

" ULQUIORRA! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" she yelled, even louder than before.

He resisted the urge to bring his palm to meet his forehead, like he had seen her do on many occasions. Grabbing a towel and wrapping it around himself, he walked over to the door and opened it just enough to poke his head out, which was quite a bit because of his mask. In the end, the door was more than half way open. Looking down, he saw her sitting in front of the door. Her legs tucked underneath her and her face was a bright shade of red. He glared at her, hoping that she would back away from the door. She didn't. Instead, her eyes moved up and down of their own accord before she finally tore her gaze away from him.

" Inoue, thinking about this logically, does it seem like a good idea to try and start a conversation with someone when they are in the bath?" he questioned.

Still not looking at him, she opened her mouth to answer. No words came out. Orihime tried a few more times before she finally gave up and shook her head. He sighed.

" Can your question wait until I am finished?"

She nodded and made her way to the table, not even sparing a glance at him on her way there. Locking the door, Ulquiorra decided that there was no use in trying to continue. Draining the now lukewarm water, he dried himself off, put on some clothes, and walked over to where she was sitting. Noticing him sitting down, Orihime's gaze moved from the tabletop to him, her face still slightly red.

" What are Aizen's plans?" she asked without ceremony.

He was somewhat taken back by how she had phrased her question. He had expected another long-winded question and an explanation of why she was asking him to go along with it. So to hear Orihime get straight to the point was…unusual, to say the least.

" I do not believe that anyone knows the answer to that question other that Aizen himself," he responded.

" You don't have an idea what his plans might be?"

Ulquiorra thought for a minute.

" I am under the impression that he wanted you to use your powers to erase the hougyoku out of existence, although I am not sure why he would desire such a thing," he added, knowing that she would ask him to explain his answer further.

Orihime sat there staring at the tabletop, apparently trying to recall anything that might help her to figure out Aizen's plans.

" He told me that he wanted to reverse the hougyoku to a state before it was sealed…" she said, confused.

" I realize he did. However, if he told you that he desired you to destroy the orb, then it would have aroused your suspicions and you would not have done it, correct?"

She nodded lightly.

" The hougyoku is the thing that turns hollows into Arrancar in the first place, right? I don't understand why he would want to destroy it," she said, more to herself than to him.

Orihime looked at him, stood up from the table, and walked to her bedroom. Hearing the light click of the door, Ulquiorra closed his eyes.

* * *

" I'm home," she said as she took her shoes off at the foyer and walked into the room that he was currently in. 

Over the past few days, he had noticed that every time Orihime returned from school, her greeting became less and less energetic. Today, she sounded almost less energetic than Ulquiorra looked. Almost.

She made her way across the room, dragging her feet in the process. Carelessly throwing her school bag on the table, she sat down next to him. He turned to face her and saw the tenseness that was clearly written in her body and her face. She looked as though she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

" Ulquiorra…" Orihime started.

He cut her off.

" I know what you are trying to do. What you have been doing for the last few days."

She looked down at her hands guiltily.

" That old shinigami told you to interrogate me, correct?" he asked, trying to get her to make eye contact with him.

Looking up at him, she shook her head slightly.

" That's not the reason I did it."

Ulquiorra blinked, confused. He was about to ask her what she meant when she began to talk.

" I knew if I didn't, then Yamamoto-san would have interrogated you, and whatever method he was going to use, I got the feeling that it wouldn't be pleasant. So, when he told me to do it instead, I decided to do it not because he told me to, but because…I wanted to spare you from whatever horrible thing he would have used to get information from you."

Orihime turned away from him to face the wall in front of them. Ulquiorra continued to stare at her, completely speechless.

" It was hard. I felt so guilty, like I was betraying you. It didn't really help that Yamamoto-san had to remind me that, ' The fate of the world rests on this war' and everything. It got so hard every day to question you, especially since I knew that everything you told me I would be relayed back to Soul Society."

" You should not feel guilty. As I have stated before, I was already aware that you were interrogating me in place of that old shinigami. I would not have said anything if I did not desire to."

She looked at him, confused and, perhaps, a little bit frustrated as well.

" Then why? Why didn't you answer when Rangiku-san and Hitsugaya-kun were asking you the same questions?" she insisted wearily.

' Because…I do not mind if it is you asking…' Ulquiorra thought.

* * *

Orhime walked down the street to the market that she had been at nearly a week ago with the green eyed Arrancar. Looking up at the sky, she noted that the clouds were dark gray. The orange haired girl took in a deep breath and could smell the scent of rain in the air. She sighed. 

' I can't believe that I left my umbrella at school,' she thought. ' I hope that it doesn't rain until I can get back home.'

She continued to walk down the streets and noticed a trashcan at the corner of the sidewalk. Walking up to it, she pulled out the notebook that Yamamoto had given her from the bag at her side and stared at it. After a minute, she opened the book and tore up all the pages, throwing them and the outside of the notebook into the bin in front of her.

' I'm sure what information I gave should be enough to help them. There's nothing more I can ask him that would be useful,' Orihime decided, feeling the burden she had carried with her the whole week lifted from her shoulders.

She turned back to the direction of her apartment building and smiled.

' Ulquiorra…when was it that you became such an important person in my life?'


	9. Chapter 9

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with a bit of IchiRuki and some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be added later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,443

A/N: The moment we've all been waiting for! Enjoy!

From now on, the story will be updated every Wednesday and Saturday, so...look forward to that!

* * *

Orihime walked through the aisles of the market, putting items into her basket without much thought. If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed that the only items she had were a bar of soap, toilet paper, and some bleach, none of which were edible. Instead, her mind was focused on a certain green eyed Arrancar who was currently residing in her apartment. 

' When was it that Ulquiorra became so important in my life?' she thought for the second time, putting in some butter and ketchup. ' Was it when he started helping me with my homework? When we went out shopping this last weekend? When he saved us?'

Closing her eyes, she thought further and further into the past, analyzing every moment the two of them had shared together. Snapping her eyes open, she had reached a conclusion.

' It was that time,' Orihime decided. ' When he and Grimmjow began to fight, and Grimmjow used his caja negación, sealing Ulquiorra in some unknown dimension. When Grimmjow told me that it would seal lesser Arrancar for all eternity, I remember feeling a wave of fear rush through me. Even though I didn't understand it at the time, I had been worried about Ulquiorra. Would he be ok? Then, Grimmjow explained that Ulquiorra, being an Espada, would break out in a couple of hours. For some reason, hearing those words, that he would be ok, strengthened me.'

Looking down at her basket, she noticed that most of it was filled with non-food items. Smacking herself lightly on the head, she walked back and put most everything away. After she made her second round through the market, this time with food items in hand, she paid the cashier. Taking her bags, she made her way to the entrance of the store, only to notice that…

' It figures. The one day that I don't have my umbrella with me, it is raining hard.'

She sighed.

" And of course it would have to be cold as well. Mou! I guess this means that I'm going to have to run as fast as I can or else I'll get sick."

Taking off her coat, Orihime put it on her head and ran as fast as she could from the market to her apartment. She could see the puffs of breath coming out and feel the numbness on her face and cheeks as the rain pelted her mercilessly. The cold, in combination with her running, was beginning to irritate her lungs. She resisted the urge to cough.

' Why do I get the feeling that Ulquiorra is going to reprimand me?'

* * *

Ulquiorra looked up from the book that he was reading and stared out the window. It had not been raining when Orihime had left the apartment, but the rain was now coming down heavily, distorting the image outside the window. He sighed. 

' She must be trying to make herself ill, going out in this frigid, pouring weather with no kind of protection...'

He heard her insert the key into the door to the apartment and open the door. Despite trying to use the coat as some sort of cover, she still managed to get soaked. Her hair was drenched and her clothes were sticking to her shivering form. Removing the coat from her head and placing it on the coat rack, she took off her shoes and cried out,

" I'm home, Ulquiorra!"

Putting his book down, he walked over to her to take the bags that she held in her hands. She held on to them tightly, walking to the kitchen while he continued to get hold of them. Finally, she released them and began to put the food away.

" Inoue, the food can wait. If you stay in those cold, soaked clothes, you are going to make yourself ill," he said, grabbing the food from her grasp and pushing her out of the kitchen and towards her bedroom.

" But I can't let you do this by your…"

His hard gaze cut her off. Resigned, she made her way to the bedroom and changed into something more comfortable and dry. She then made her way to the bathroom to towel the water out of her hair. Making her way back to where he was, she walked into the kitchen only to find that he had already put everything away. She was slightly surprised, glancing at him to find that he was already sitting on the couch in his usual spot. She walked over to him and sat down.

" What reason do you have for not bringing an umbrella with you when you could clearly see that there was a possibility of rain on top of the fact that it is unpleasantly cold out?" he demanded, staring at her out of the corner of his eye.

She scratched her head and let out a nervous laugh.

" Ah! Well, you see…it looked like it was going to rain yesterday too, so I brought my umbrella with me to school. The only thing is, I kinda forgot to bring it back home. And well, I couldn't really go back to the school to go get it, so…. I was just hoping that it wouldn't rain on my way back from the supermarket, or, at least, it wouldn't be raining too hard. I guess I jinxed myself, huh?" she rambled.

Ulquiorra was about to reprimand her for her forgetfulness when a strike of lightning flashed across the window and a crash of thunder was heard, bathing the whole room in darkness in the blink of an eye. Although Ulquiorra had no trouble adjusting to the sudden change in lighting, it took Orihime a few seconds to adjust to the new lighting.

" The power went out."

" What an astute observation."

Standing up from the couch, she made her way to the cabinets in the kitchen and grabbed a few candles and some matches. She strategically placed the candles around different places in the room, lighting them before returning to her seat. The two sat in comfortable silence, minus the second crash of thunder, for a few minutes before Orihime turned to him.

" I threw away the notebook. The one that I had been writing in that allowed me to transmit all your information to Soul Society. I destroyed it and threw it away while I was out," she repeated.

"Hm."

She turned her gaze back to the wall in front of them and continued to sit in silence for about half a minute until curiosity got the best of her.

" Ulquiorra. I know that you probably won't answer me, but I've got to at least try one more time before I give up altogether," Orihime started, gazing at his profile before continuing. " Why did you help us escape from Hueco Mundo?"

She waited a few minutes for him to respond. When he didn't, she let out a soft sigh. She was about to tell him that she had been expecting him to answer that way when he began to speak.

" Because you saved me," he responded, turning to meet her gaze, a strange look on his face that she had never seen before.

" Eh? Wha…"

" You remember the caja negación that the former sexta Espada used against me, correct?" he asked.

Orihime nodded.

" The device transports Arrancar into another dimension and traps them there for all eternity, as long as they are lower ranking. None have ever escaped from that dimension, to tell what lay in that other world…until now. Considering that it was developed by the octava Espada, it is not surprising that he would find a means to create a dimension that was…"

He paused a bit, trying to find the correct words to use. She was about to ask him to continue when he began again.

" Being an Arrancar, I am not aware of the conditions of Hell, but I hypothesize that the dimension the caja negación connects to is the closest to replicating those conditions in existence," he said, hearing her gasp.

' That's terrible,' she thought, a hand covering her mouth in shock.

" In that dimension, there is no light. Time is nonexistent. You cannot see anything that is around you; however, your senses are magnified considerably, especially your sense of touch. The pain of a scratch in that dimension is equivalent to having a limb cut off. And there are…beings there, not that they are visible in that darkness, that attack you. They take pleasure in each cry that escapes from your lips and you can hear your cries ringing in your ears for what seems to be hours after you have stopped screaming. It would drive a lesser Arrancar insane, and still, that is not the worst of it."

Ulquiorra saw the look of horror that spread on her face and considered stopping. However, he knew that she wanted to hear his reason for saving her and her friends and would give him no peace until he did. So, he continued.

" The worst of it all is that your ability to feel emotions is also magnified considerably. Not any of the positive emotions, though. All your guilt. All your anger. All your sadness. Everything. Combined with the heightened state of your senses, it would not take long for even the most powerful of the Espada to be driven to madness by the sensory overload."

Orihime looked at him sadly, unsure of what she should think about everything he had told her.

" But, you didn't," she said.

Ulquiorra's eyes turned downward and he took a few seconds to collect himself before he brought his gaze back to meet hers.

" No, I didn't. As I said before…it was because you saved me. Saved me from the darkness. The two hours that I spent in that dimension was an eternity. I did everything possible to prevent myself from slipping into madness. I imagined what I was going to do to Grimmjow once I escaped. I thought of Aizen and his goals. Nothing worked…"

He looked away from her to stare at the wall in front of them before looking at her again.

" I was so close. Very close to giving in and letting those beings consume me until… I remembered the image of your face before the entrance to the dimension closed. When I did, I could feel my sanity return to me. For the rest of the time, I saw nothing but your face in my mind's eye. It kept me sane for the remainder of the time that I was trapped in that dimension. You were my light in that all-encompassing darkness."

Orihime's eyes widened and she could feel a slight blush forming on her cheeks.

" I…see. But, that doesn't really explain why you helped us escape," she pointed out.

Ulquiorra closed his eyes and sighed.

" I had to repay you, for what you had done for me…more importantly…"

He opened them once again, revealing to her an emotion that she never thought she would ever see, particularly from him: contrition.

" As the days passed, I saw that your light was starting to fade the longer you resided in Hueco Mundo and the fact was…I did not want it to. After I escaped, I resolved to help you escape. However, I was also aware that you would never leave your nakama behind, so, as a result, I understood that I would be obligated to help them as well."

Orihime took this all in, trying to make sense of everything that he told her. It was no wonder that he had never answered before when everyone asked him why he had helped them escape. His reasons for helping them were so…personal, so intimate. She felt as though Ulquiorra had just bared his soul, in a manner of speaking, and it humbled her to know that he had done so for her sake.

". …T-thank you…Ulquiorra. For telling me," she said, trying to keep herself from crying.

" Now you understand why I refused to answer this question before," he replied.

He saw the tears that were forming in her eyes.

" Why does it appear that you are about to cry?"

She tried pushing back the tears.

' Ulquiorra…'

" It hurts …to hear what you suffered through. Hearing you describe those things…all the pain…the ascending madness. It's as though I can feel what you must have gone through. And it hurts me so much," she said, tears starting to run down her cheeks, " to know that you had to deal with something so horrifying…because…"

Orihime started to break down into deep sobs, her head turned down as the tears ran down her face and dropped into her lap. Ulquiorra stared at her for a few moments before placing a hand underneath her chin, tilting her head up. Using the pad of his thumb, he wiped the tears away until her crying ceased.

Sniffling one last time, her hands moved to grab his arms, pulling them closer to her body. He was surprised that he was not as uncomfortable with the sudden contact as he expected he would be.

" I can't bear the thought of you suffering like that…ever…"

Orihime looked at him straight in the eyes and he couldn't help but avert his gaze to his lap.

' The look in her eyes…they are too honest…too kind…'

Suddenly, Ulquiorra felt her release his arms and move closer to him. He closed his eyes at the feel of her hand pressed against his cheek, causing a warm feeling to spread where her hand was touching it. He turned into it, relishing the feeling.

' It's the same as that time…when she linked arms with me…this warmth,' he recalled.

Her fingers slowly traced the lines of his tear marks and he resisted the urge to shudder. Suddenly, her hands left his face and they wrapped themselves around his neck, the rest of her body closely pressed against him. His arms were at his sides awkwardly and his body began to tremble slightly.

" I do not want your pity," he told her coldly.

She looked up at him and smiled softly, her eyes filled with warmth.

" It's not pity," Orihime said, pulling herself up.

She lifted herself slowly, ever so slowly, until her lips were closer to his. Ulquiorra moved his arms and gripped her shoulders, holding her in place before she could move any further.

"…Don't," he whispered, almost pleadingly.

It was too much for him, too much emotion. He knew that if he let her do what she was planning on doing, that things would never be the same again. **He** would never be the same again.

" Sh…don't be afraid," she whispered back to him.

His grip on her shoulders loosened and she began to move closer and closer. Their lips were millimeters apart now and they could feel each other's uneven breathing on their faces, coming out in pants. Both of their eyes were half closed. She could hear her heart beating erratically. Ulquiorra could feel a small trail of sweat making it's way down the back of his neck.

Slowly, she closed the distance between them and, closing their eyes, their lips touched.

It was nothing like Orihime had ever experienced before in her life. She remembered everything that she had ever read about a girl's first kiss in books and other sources.

' They said that there would be fireworks that exploded the second two lips touched or how the other person would taste like something sweet, like peppermint or strawberries.'

She could remember all the other metaphors that were compared to the sensation of a kiss and yet…none of them were even close. It was a feeling so indescribable that, no matter how long and hard a person tried, they could not put it down into words.

There was a small part of him, in the back of his mind, that had been reminding him that he was an Arrancar and that she was a human. A relationship between the two of them would be impossible. That he should throw the girl off of him and get as far away from her, lest she change him. Weaken him. The moment her lips touched his, that part of himself had been destroyed completely. After a moment, Ulquiorra moved his hands to wrap them around her waist.

They stayed like this, with her hands wrapped around his neck and his arms wrapped around her waist, for a few moments before they pulled away. She moved her head to rest it on his shoulder and let out a content sigh.

' My first kiss…' she thought.

Suddenly, Ulquiorra moved a hand to the left side of his head and gripped his mask. He sucked in a breath.

" Ulquiorra, what's wrong?" she asked, moving her arms to grip his shoulders and trying to make eye contact with him.

Unfortunately, his eyes were shut. Ulquiorra had never felt a pain like his before in his entire existence, including the time that he had spent trapped in the negación dimension. Pulling away from her, he moved off the couch and kneeled down, sweating rolling off of him. She got up and knelt in front of him.

" Please," she begged, " tell me what's wrong."

" …Pain…" he said before he let out a harsh groan.

The pressure in his mask continued to build and build until it felt as though he would pass out. The two could hear a cracking noise and Orihime looked around the room. Turning her gaze back to him, she could see the numerous cracks that had formed in his mask.

" What…?" Orhime started.

Suddenly, the pain was gone. The masked shattered, falling off his head and into his hands. Ulquiorra's eyes widened as he looked at the pieces. He was about to comment when the mask began to change into something that almost looked like reiatsu and began to move towards the area where his hollow hole was. At the same time, the two could feel his reiatsu flare.

And then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over. Ulquiorra looked at her questioningly only to see that she was doing the same. Looking down, he unbuttoned his shirt and heard her gasp.

" Y-your hollow hole!"

It was no longer there. She moved her hand closer and looked at him apprehensively. He nodded and felt her press the area where there was now flesh. After she removed her hand, he buttoned his shirt back up and stood. He looked out the window and saw that it was still raining.

" Ulquiorra, what…what happened…. just now?"

He turned and looked at her. He shook his head slightly.

" I'm…not certain," he answered.

He turned back to the window and saw his reflection. It was weird to see himself without the mask on the left side of his head. Instead, there were locks of black hair, some of it framing his face. He could see that his skin was the same hue as before and that he still had the tear marks that trailed their way down his cheeks. Ulquiorra turned to look at her.

" What…am I?"

" What do you mean, what are you?" Orihime asked, obviously bewildered.

He walked over to the corner of the room and picked up his zanpakutou that had been long forgotten since he first started living in her apartment. Walking back to her, he slid his sword out of its sheath. He stared at it for a moment, contemplating.

" Weep, La Muerta," he said softly.

Nothing. He could no longer feel his reiatsu that had once been encased in the zanpakutou.

' That would explain the rise in reiatsu I felt within myself earlier,' he decided.

Sheathing the sword, he propped it up against the wall. Moving back to his position in front of her, Ulquiorra stared at Orihime.

" What…am I?" he repeated.

" You already asked that…I don't understand what you mean." she responded.

" I am no longer an Arrancar," he explained. " Although I sense I am still able to use my Arrancar powers, I no longer have a hollow hole nor can I release my zanpakutou. I am not a human. I am not a shinigami. What does that make me, then?"

Holding his hands in her own, she looked up at him and smiled brightly.

" You're Ulquiorra…and that's all that matters."\

* * *

And here's the image that inspired the **whole** fic: http:// osm. icca. jp/main /bleach /img/ ulqui-hamen.jpg 

Just take out the spaces.


	10. Chapter 10

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with a bit of IchiRuki and some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be added later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,557

A/N: HOMG! 25 reviews for last chapter alone? You guys are amazing! (hands out Ulquiorra-shaped e-cookies to all)

Ok, so I posted this a few hours before it's technically Wednesday, but it's close enough, right? I'm sure no one will be complaining…

Enjoy!

* * *

The two of them stayed this way, Orihime holding Ulquiorra's hands in hers, until there was a loud crash and the front door was blasted off its hinges. In the doorway stood Ishida, bow in hand and an arrow stringed in, ready to fire, Sado with his transformed right arm, and Rukia and Ichigo in their shinigami form. Ichigo had his zanpakutou in his hand and ready to attack.

The two stared at the group on the doorway for a moment, looked back at each other, and reluctantly let go of their hands. Orihime stared at the door that was now on the floor with a frown while Ulquiorra looked at her nakama with disdain.

" Ulquiorra! You bastard! Get the hell away from Inoue!" Ichigo demanded, pointing his sword at him. " I swear! If you did anything to hurt her, you're dead!"

Meanwhile, Rukia, Ishida and Sado went over to Orihime's side and began to question her.

" Inoue-san, are you alright?" Ishida asked.

"Yeah."

" We felt an increase in reiatsu originating in this area not to long ago. We were worried that something might have happened to you," Rukia explained, looking the orange haired girl over for any injuries.

" I'm fine. Really. Minna, thank you for coming, although it wasn't necessary," Orihime said, scratching the back of her head lightly, a sweat drop forming.

" No, it was. Something terrible might have happened to you," Sado interjected.

Ichigo was still staring Ulquiorra down while Ulquiorra just stared at the orange haired shinigami with disinterest. He wasn't in the mood to fight with him at the moment, considering the events that had just happened.

' Anyway, if we were to fight here, we would only cause more damage to Inoue's apartment than they already have done,' he decided, looking at the front door that was currently lying on the floor in front of him.

" Ulquiorra. What was that increase in reiatsu right now?" Ichigo demanded, his sword still pointed at Ulquiorra.

Everyone else turned their attention to the two. After a minute, a gasp was heard from Ishida, Sado, and Rukia as they took in the former Arrancar's appearance and noticed the lack of the mask that usually adorned the left side of his head. Their mouths dropped open slightly and it took a few moments for them to regain the ability to speak.

" W-What on Earth? Inoue, what happened to his mask?" Rukia asked the girl, pointing to the area where his mask had once been.

Ichigo took a few seconds to stare at Ulquiorra before realizing the lack of a mask on the other being's head and lowered his sword slighty. His eyes widened.

" What's going on here? What on Earth happened to your mask?" Ichigo asked.

Ulquiorra said nothing. The six stood around in uncomfortable silence until the power returned and the apartment was filled with light. They all blinked at the sudden brightness. Once their eyes had adjusted, Orihime cleared her throat, gaining everyone's attention.

" Ano…. maybe we should all sit down?" she said, pointing to the table in the middle of the room.

After they all got situated, the group sat in silence. It was clear that there were tons of questions that they would like to have answered; it was just a matter of which one to ask first. Eventually, Rukia took the initiative to begin the conversation.

" What happened to the Arrancar's mask? I mean, it's obvious that he was able to remove the rest of it, but…how? Also, where is the mask?"

Inoue and Ulquiorra shared a glace. He nodded to her and she took it as her cue to start filling them in on what had happened, minus certain…details.

" Well, you see, Ulquiorra and I were talking and such one minute, and then the next, he was clutching his head in unbelievable pain. I tried to figure out what was wrong with him but he couldn't answer me. Then, we both heard this cracking noise and I looked around to see where it had come from. When I looked back at him, I saw that his mask had many small cracks in it. And then suddenly, his mask broke," she explained, taking in the looks of her friends as she relayed to them the events of only about half an hour ago.

Ishida sat there, his chin in his hand and nodding slightly. Sado's eyes widened a few times, but other than that, his face remained the same. Rukia's face had a look of shock written all over it the whole time, clearly surprised that something like this could even happen. And Ichigo…well, he looked absolutely lost. He scratched his head and looked up at the ceiling, hoping that he would be able to understand better. He didn't.

" Wait, I don't get it. Why would his mask just randomly break off, anyway? I mean, you'd think there would…." Ichigo started before Ishida cut him off.

" More importantly, where did his mask go, Inoue-san"

She slapped herself lightly, laughing to herself.

" Oh yes! When the mask broke, it fell into Ulquiorra's hand and stayed there for a second before…well…I'm not sure, but it looked like it changed into something that looked very similar to reiatsu and then the reiatsu-looking thing made it's way to Ulquiorra's hollow hole and filled it in!" she said, holding her finger up as she finished her explanation.

The four looked at her blankly, taking in all they had heard from her.

" Was this what caused the sudden burst in reiatsu?" Sado asked.

"No," Ulquiorra stated, gaining the attention from everyone at the table. This was the first time that he had spoken since they had arrived at Orihime's apartment.

" Then, what was it?" Ichigo demanded, a dangerous glint in his eye that said that he clearly did not trust the green eyed being in front of him.

" The increase in reiatsu that you felt was the result of the reiatsu sealed in my zanpakutou being restored to my body," he replied, glancing at the sword that was propped up against a wall on the far side of the room.

The four stared at each other, trying to make sense of the events that had just been explained to them. Rukia frowned deeply. Being the most knowledgeable of the group about Arrancar, it was perplexing that she had never heard of anything like this happening before. She sighed.

" I've never heard of something like this ever occurring. I doubt **anyone** has, even Urahara-san or Yamamoto-taichou," she replied.

Looking around at each other, the group sat in awkward silence before Ishida cleared his throat and began.

" I guess that leaves just one question left. What does this make you?" the Quincy asked. He caught Ichigo's confused look and explained further. " You are clearly not an Arrancar anymore because you do not posses your mask any more and you cannot release your zanpakutou. You cannot be a shinigami nor can you be a human. This means that whatever you are, you are the only one of your kind."

" That would be correct," Ulquiorra answered, glaring at Ishida. " As for your question, I have no knowledge of what being I have become. What I am aware of is that I am no longer an Arrancar anymore nor am I human or shinigami."

Suddenly, Rukia stood and, grabbing the back of Ichigo's shinigami uniform, pulled him up from his sitting position. The other two's eyes widened and they stood up quickly. Then, the dark haired shinigami began pulling the male she had in her grip towards the front.

" Eh? Rukia? Damn you! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ichigo demanded, grasping at the back of his collar.

She sighed. " Idiot. The only reason that we came here was that we feared that Inoue had been harmed in some way. Now that we see that she hasn't and now that we know why there was an increase in reiatsu in the first place, what is the point of staying here any longer?"

With that, Rukia pushed him out the door while he continued to fight her. The other two bowed to Orihime slightly before they made their way out the door, leaving Ulquiorra and Orihime alone again. Her glance made its way to the floor where her front door now laid, a frown forming on her lips.

" My door…" she replied forlornly. " Who exactly is going to pay to fix this?"

* * *

After Ulquiorra fixed the door, mumbling under his breath that he would kill a certain orange haired shinigami for ruining it in the first place, he made his way to the kitchen to find Orihime working on her dinner. He glanced over her shoulder to see what she was making and turned away, unsure what the creation that he had just seen was supposed to be.

' Thankfully, I do not require such sustenance for survival,' he thought.

He made his way over to the table and pulled out the thermos of reiatsu, screwing open the lid. He peered inside and saw that it was about half way full. Silently hoping that it would last until Yamamoto decided to return, if he ever did, he placed the container to his lips and tried to consume it. However, the reistsu stayed in the container, swirling around slightly. Confused, he brought the container to his lips and tried again, only to have the same reaction. Placing the lid on the thermos and closing it, he placed the container on the tabletop.

' I do not understand. Why am I not able to consume reiatsu like I was able to do before? I can feel my body wanting to be replenished, and yet…'

He heard a growl coming from somewhere close and looked over at Orihime accusingly. She turned around at the sound and looked at him questioningly.

" What are you staring at me for?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

" If you are hungry enough that your stomach is protesting at the lack of food, then you should hurry up and eat."

She blinked and continued to stare at him, a look of utter confusion written on her face. She was about to say that it was not her stomach that had growled when a light bulb went off in her head. A grin spread on her face, causing Ulquiorra to feel a bit nervous.

" What is with that smile, Inoue?"

Her smile continued to grow until she resembled a cheshire cat.

" Ulquiorra, it wasn't my stomach that growled. It was yours," she said, a slight laugh in her voice.

He looked down and placed a hand above his belly. He stared at it, as thought it would start talking and tell him why it had growled in the first place. He looked back at her and saw that she had returned to her cooking.

' I do not understand. Why would my stomach be growling? Unless…I am no longer able to consume reiatsu anymore…' he considered.

It then occurred to him that if his body was not asking for reiatsu to consume, then it was probably asking for…human food. He glanced at the girl in front of him wearily.

' I have been living with this girl for long enough to know that whatever food she may prepare would not be…' He thought for a moment, thinking of the right word to use. '…wise to eat.'

Orihime began to walk towards him with a bowl of food and sat down at the table. She began to eat before she noticed that he was not eating the reiatsu that was in the thermos like he usually did. Looking at him, she gave him a perplexed stare.

" Ulquiorra, are you not going to eat?" she asked, playing with the spoon in her hands.

He watched as she played with the spoon for a few moments before he answered her question.

" No. It would appear that I am no longer able to consume reiatsu as I used to do previously," he explained.

" Oh?" she said, a slight glimmer in her eye that he wasn't sure he liked all that much. " Does this mean that you eat human food now?"

He sighed, wondering if it would be worse to die of starvation or from her cooking. It had been a tie until he looked into her bowl and saw what was in it.

' I will survive a while without food,' Ulquiorra contemplated. ' After all, all I need do is consume enough water and I will last for at least a month.'

Before he could answer her question, he found a plate of food in front of him that she had apparently prepared for him while he had been thinking. He was about to tell her that the food was not necessary until he saw what was on his plate. It turned out to be a two slices of bread with some apple jelly spread on top. He stared at the food for a moment, trying to take it all in. It was…normal, which, for Orihime, was really weird. He opened his mouth to question her only to find that no words came out. Seeing his look of complete disbelief, she let out a small giggle.

" Surprisingly, I do know that my sense of taste is a bit…different from what other people would consider normal. That doesn't mean that I don't know what makes a food normal or not," she said, seeing his eyes widen even more so than they had been seconds ago.

"…How?" he said, as it was all that he could get out as he picked up a slice of bread and took a bite from it.

Bringing a finger to her mouth, she thought for a second.

" Well, I think of the most boring food combination I can think of, and, usually, that's what people consider normal," she decided, glancing at him for a reaction. " So, how is it?"

Swallowing, he stared at the piece of toast in his hand and then glanced up at her.

" Sweet."

Orihime sweatdropped slightly.

" I meant do you like it?"

" I do not hate it," he said, finishing off the piece of toast and reaching for the second slice.

A small smile lit her face and she started to eat her food once again. She glanced and saw him taking a bite into the second piece of bread, somehow managing not to get any crumbs on the table or himself. She shook her head slightly.

' I guess when he says that he doesn't hate something, it means that he likes it,' she decided, sighing softly. ' What wouldn't I do to have a translator that spoke Ulquiorrese?"

* * *

It was after dinner and Orihime was sitting in the living room knitting a scarf, this time a pale blue, while Ulquiorra sat next to her, reading the book that she had given him earlier in the week. Even with all the free time he had, he was still only half way through, although it didn't help that he had to re-read every line in order to understand what the book was saying.

He was about to turn to her and ask her why she thought this would be a book that he would enjoy when a small yawn escaped his lips. Ulquiorra's eyes widened for what seemed to be the millionth time that day as he tried to figure out what had happened. Orihime, who had seen him yawn out of the corner of her eye, smiled.

" You yawned," she explained, looking at the clock to see that it was nearly midnight, " It's no wonder! You must be sleepy."

" Sleepy?"

She nodded slightly, putting her knitting away while she made her way to the closet to get the futon out. After she moved the table to a corner of the room, she rolled out the futon and looked back at him.

" Yeah, sleepy. You know, when you close your eyes and go to sleep. Apparently, it's something that you have to do now, along with eating human food," she said as she smoothed out the pillow.

He placed his book down and walked over to the futon that she was setting up for him. Nodding slightly, she stood up and made her way to her bedroom, calling out a "goodnight" before she closed her door.

Slipping under the covers, Ulquiorra lay down and closed his eyes, somewhat skeptical about the whole sleep thing. He wondered why it was so imperative for him to sleep anyway.

' Here I assumed that I had become a more powerful being after removing the rest of my mask. Apparently, this is proving to be false if I am required to eat human food and sleep.'

The last thought that went though his mind before slept overtook him was how Orihime had been forgetting to lock her bedroom door as of late.

* * *

It was weird for him to see his tear marks and the tattoo on his chest fade with each passing day. Also, he noticed, his skin was starting to turn from his unnaturally gray hue to a more peachy color like Orihime's, although he was sure that his skin would still be considerably paler than her own. He wondered how long it would take before the marks disappeared completely.

It had taken about a week for Ulquiorra to get used to all of the things that his new body required. It wasn't that it had been difficult to get used to, it was more that it was an inconvenience to him, especially compared to his Arrancar body that did not require human food or sleep or…any of the other requirements that were bothersome. The worst of it all was that he was beginning to feel a lot…warmer than he usually did, especially around a certain orange haired girl. Every time her hand touch his or her body would brush by accidentally, that spot would feel like it was burning. Every time, he would close his eyes and relish the feeling a second before he continue on with his routine as normal.

His routine was mundane, for the most part, and it would have gotten on his nerves. However, the evenings, when she would return home from school and tell him about her day made it bearable. It wasn't until after dinner that things became much more…enjoyable.

It would start out with her doing her homework and him correcting her, as per usual. They would be talking about some random topic that she had managed to bring up until suddenly he found her hand on top of his and saw her staring at him. Then suddenly, he could feel his body moving closer to hers as their lips pressed together once again. His arms would be wrapped around her waist and hers would be around his neck or her hands would be pressed against his chest ever so softly.

It was a Friday night and they once again found themselves in this same scenario. She was finishing up the last bits of her homework while he watched her. Orihime was doing quite well by herself, so there was no need for him to correct her work. He watched as her hand moved across her paper and stop.

Ulquiorra moved his hand to cover hers while his other made its way into her hair, pulling her closer to him. Closing their eyes, their lips touched. They thought that it would have been repetitive by now and yet, the energy from every kiss they shared felt the same as the first. His arms wrapped themselves around her waist and her arms found their way to his neck.

It was the same as it had been for the last few days until his tongue traced the line of her lips. She gasped softly; her hands clenched his shirt before she opened her mouth. He slid his tongue in, gently grazing every area of her mouth. After a minute, she did the same, tracing his movements exactly while letting out a low moan as their tongues touched and slide against one another in a slow and agonizing manner.

His hands slid from her waist to rest upon her upper thighs, creating small circles in the flesh beneath his hand. He felt her shudder slightly but pull closer to him as her hands began to make its way down his chest, moving her hands against them lightly. They continued like this for a few minutes before the two parted, panting to try and catch their breath while they stayed in that position. Both their eyes were glazed over and their faces were flushed.

" Orihime…" he whispered, not needing to say anything else.

She nodded and they kissed. He grabbed her around the waist and stood up, feeling her legs wrap around his waist. Ulquiorra repressed a groan from escaping. Her hands made their way to his shirt, slowly unbuttoning it. Somehow, he managed to walk to her bedroom and close the door behind him with a click.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be hinted at later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,425

Wow! I can't believe this is the one-month anniversary of this fic! (pulls out strings and confetti)

I know a lot of people asked if there would be some smut in this chapter. Do you really think I'd be mean enough to split a sex scene between two chapters? Sorry, I just…can't write smut; it took me 30 minutes to write out the foreplay in the last chapter. (sweatdrop)

Anyway, please enjoy chapter 11!

* * *

_He could see the monochrome world that was Hueco Mundo in front of him, behind him, everywhere. He breathed in and he could feel the reiatsu enter his body, easing his hunger – to a point, anyway. Glancing around at the desert world with the quartz-like trees, he saw Las Noches, the imposing white citadel, in the distance. Inside, he knew there were the other Arrancar that Aizen created, the other two shinigami that served him, and, of course, Aizen himself. Ulquiorra felt a shudder run through his body, although from what he was not certain._

_He wandered around aimlessly for what seemed like hours and then stopped to rest under one of the trees that dotted Hueco Mundo. Resting up against it, he brought a hand to his temple only to be find that the hand was not his own. This hand had elongated fingertips that were bone white. His eyes widened and he took in as much of his form as he possibly could. Ulquiorra brought his hands to the top of his head and felt the two horn-like objects sticking out from the top of his head._

' _This...this was my true form, when I had been a Vasto Lorde,' he thought, trying to makes sense of what was going on, 'but, I am not an Arrancar anymore. Why am I in this form once again?'_

_Standing up, he looked around himself only to find nothing but desert surrounding him. He sighed and was about to start walking again, where he was headed he wasn't sure, when he heard a voice from behind call out to him._

" _Ulquiorra Schiffer."_

_He turned around quickly and saw Aizen, a smile on his face. Ulquiorra could feel the rage boil in him at sight of the shinigami. He prepared to attack him when he heard Aizen tsk ever so softly while shaking his head._

" _You're scared, aren't you? Terrified even. Of death." _

_Aizen's eyes peered into his own and he felt a great sense of discomfort grow in him. It was as though he was looking straight into Ulquiorra and reading all his thoughts. Thoughts that he himself never wanted to think about as long for as he lived._

"_However," he continued, " I can take all that fear away. I can promise you a life without it." _

" _What do I have to do?" he felt himself answer, as though he had no control of his body._

_Ulquiorra saw his smile widen considerably before he placed a hand on his shoulder._

" _I will make you more powerful than you could ever imagine. I could tell even from afar that you are a strong being, even as a Hollow," he replied. "How powerful will you become when you transform into an Arrancar? All you have to do in return…is serve me."_

_Ulquiorra glared at him. This was all oddly familiar to him, although he could not understand for the life of him why. _

" _I understand. I will serve you and you alone," he heard himself say as he bowed slightly. He could feel a sense of disgust wash through him from the action. Suddenly, he remembered why this interaction was so familiar._

' _Of course. This is what occurred during our first meeting, before he transformed me into an Arrancar,' he considered, closing his eyes slightly. ' Keep away the fear of death? Foolishness.'_

" _Good," Aizen murmured softly, his eyes glinting in the moonlight. " Well, before we begin,, why don't you have one last meal? It will be a while before you are able eat, after all…"_

_Ulquiorra's eyes widen._

' _This…what is this? This is not what occurred during that time. Aizen brought me to Las Noches to prepare for the transformation from Hollow to Arrancar,' he thought frantically. _

_He saw Aizen reveal something from behind his back, although Ulquiorra was certain that he had not had whatever it was when they first began talking. He looked down and saw in Aizen's arms a girl in a short skirt and vest, long orange hair, and big brown eyes with tears forming in them at an alarming rate._

' _O…Orihime?' he questioned, peering into her face and watching as the tears trailed down, ' What is she….'_

_Suddenly, it all made sense. He was a hollow. Hollows ate souls. Human souls. That was what Aizen had meant when he had been talking about a "last meal". Ulquiorra could feel himself shake once again. He traced the line of her tears with his finger and heard her cry out._

"_Here," Aizen said, placing her down on the ground. " Enjoy."_

_Ulquiorra stared at Aizen and then at Orihime and the back at the Aizen again._

' _No. I cannot. How could he even suggest something as depraved as this?'_

_But then he felt his body move closer to hers and knelt down, He ran his finger through her hair and heard her screams as they became more intense with each passing moment. Ulquiorra could feel the hunger in him grow to unimaginable levels and he felt his head dip down close to her and begin to consume her soul. She tasted sweet, so sweet, and he knew that he could not control himself any longer. He continued to eat, hearing her screams of terror and feeling her sweetness diffuse into every part of his being. In the background, he could hear Aizen's cruel, mocking laugh._

* * *

He awoke with a start, his eyes popping open. He could feel his heart beating in his chest rapidly and feel the slight sheen of sweat that covered his body. Ulquiorra took a few deep breaths to calm himself. 

' It was just a dream,' he told himself, ' Why are you reacting this way to a dream?'

Some part of him pointed out that what he had was **not **a dream; it was a nightmare. He shook his head, feeling slightly foolish for having been so worked up about something that hadn't happened in the first place. Ulquiorra tried to pull himself up only to find that something was weighing him down. He looked down and saw Orihime sleeping contently on his chest, her hand resting right above his heart where his 4 mark was now almost completely faded.

He felt her sigh lightly and snuggle closer to him, pressing her body even closer to him than before. He could feel the warmth make its way to his cheeks.

' That's right. We…did that,' thought Ulquiorra.

Or, at least, tried to think. It was hard to concentrate when a certain orange haired girl insisted on stroking her leg against his. He used his hand to brush a few stray hairs away from her face, causing her to sigh once again. A few moments later, she opened her eyes, blinking a few times to remove the sleep from them. Yawning, she looked up at him and smiled.

" Good morning, Ulquiorra."

" Good morning, Orihime," he replied, wondering if he should tell her about his dream.

' No. It's a waste of time.'

Pulling herself up, she looked at his face and her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

" What's wrong? You look upset about something?" she pointed out while he let out a quick breath.

" It's not important, however," he said, noticing her glare, " since you wish to know, I will tell you. I had a dream…a nightmare, more accurately, about when I was still a Vasto Lorde. At first, I just thought I was just remembering my bargain with Aizen, when he told me that he would transform me into an Arrancar, however…"

She stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to continue.

" However…" she said, noticing that he wasn't.

" You were there. Aizen gave you to me so that I could consume your soul before I became an Arrancar. And I did. I consumed your soul, even though I could hear your screaming and yet, the only aspect that I could awknowledge was that…you tasted sweet," he replied, averting his gaze.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Without warning, Orihime took his head between her hands and, bring it down, placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. He lifted his head to stare at her, very confused.

" It was a nightmare," she explained, " I know that you would never do something like that. The fact that you are so disturbed by it is proof. We should go back to sleep. It's early."

Ulquiorra looked at the clock and saw that it was 3:42 in the morning. Settling back into bed, she wrapped her arms around him while he rested his head on her chest. He could feel her fingers as they ran though his hair, stroking the stands lightly. He heard the beat of her heart and breathed in her sweet, relaxing scent before dreamless sleep came upon him.

* * *

It had taken them a while to find a place to train that was isolated so that no one could potentially get hurt. It was proving to be quite difficult, considering it was the weekend and every place they went to seemed to have more people than the two would have preferred. After about an hour of searching, they found a suitable place. 

" I think this is the same spot that Ishida-kun was first training before we all went to Soul Society together," she replied, noting the waterfall and the boulders surrounding the small pool of water at the base, " How ironic."

" No, it's not irony. It's coincidence," Ulquiorra corrected, taking in their surroundings before turning his gaze back to her, " However, that is irrelevant as to why we are here. You do remember that you wanted to be trained, correct?"

She nodded.

" About that. I've been thinking about it for a while and…how exactly are you supposed to train me? I mean, unless you're going to be teaching me how to shoot ceros from my fingertips or something…Do you even have any of your powers left?"

Ulquiorra resisted the urge to slap his forehead and instead opted to massage his temple.

" Orihime, I will not be teaching you how to shoot ceros, as that is something that only Menos and Arrancar are able to do. Yes, I still retained my hollow powers but no, I am not going to demonstrate them here. You will just have to trust me on this," he said, feeling his irritation rise ever so slightly.

"Oh, so…how am I supposed to train with you?" Orihime asked once again.

He sighed softly and replied, " First, release your powers." When she did so, he continued, " I've been thinking about your powers for the past few weeks. I am aware that you have an offensive power, correct? You used it against Noitora."

" Yes, Tsubaki," she said, nodding slightly while pointing to the male fairy-like guardian, " Why?"

" Can you demonstrate the power you have with him?"

" What do you…?"

Pointing to a tree in the distance, Ulquiorra stared, " That tree. Use your powers on it."

" What?! Ulquiorra, you want me to hurt a poor, defenseless tree?" she exclaimed, causing him to cover his ears at the sound. " The trees are always the victims, whether in real life or whatever."

She looked around and saw the group of boulders at the water's edge. Tugging on his sleeve, she pointed to them.

" Why not use these boulders instead? I mean, they're not living things, so they shouldn't mind…"

" I don't care," Ulquiorra ground out, his eye twitching slightly, " Just. Use. Your. Powers."

She prepared herself, taking careful aim at one of the larger rocks in the area. Tsubaki complained about being used for such fruitless means, but she convinced him that it was for his own good.

" Koten Zanshun! I reject!" she yelled, cutting the boulder almost in half.

She turned to him and saw that he was deep in thought. His eyes inspected the boulder carefully, taking in every detail. When he was finished, Ulquiorra turned to her.

" We do not have enough time to train you to achieve a level that would be formidable against one of the higher ranking Arrancar. The attack you did now would only be a threat to lower level Arrancar," he stated.

The two stood in silence for a moment, staring at the boulder and considering what he had just said. Orihime lifted her head, her voice replying somewhat shakily.

" So, I guess that means that there is nothing that I can do to be useful for this war, huh?"

" That's not true," he stated, earning a look of confusion from his companion, " I have been thinking about your time reversal powers for the last few weeks, Orihime. Have you ever tried using them offensively?"

"…No. What do you mean, offensively?" she asked.

" I mean, have you ever attempted to erase the existence of an enemy," he replied gravely.

" No. Do…do you want me to?"

She glanced up at him with an uncertain look. She wasn't really sure about his suggestion. Orihime had only used her powers to heal people. Could she handle erasing someone's existence completely?

'More importantly, will my powers even work that way?' she contemplated.

Calling out Ayame and Shun'o, she locked onto the rock that she had attacked with Tsubaki and began to reverse the effects of the damage. The rock was back to its previous state but Orihime continued, much to the confusion of her guardians. She watched as the rock began to grow smaller and smaller until what replaced it was a large pile of sand. Her eyes widened in disbelief and she looked up at Ulquiorra.

" I see. It appears that my assumption was correct."

They stared at the pile of sand for a few minutes before she turned back to him grimly.

" I guess this is my training until the war, huh? Well, I better not waste any more time."

"…. I suppose so."

* * *

They continued to train at their spot everyday. Orihime was thankful that school had released for the winter so that she would not have to make up an excuse for not going. Ulquiorra was pleased at how much she had improved over the last couple of days. She was able to reverse time in a larger area and at a faster rate than she had been able to previously. However, her increasing power did mean that they had to find other places to train once there was nothing else to reverse. 

It was a Friday night after a particularly tiring day of training, which had been cut short due to the appearance of rain near the end of their session. Orihime's head was resting on the table, too tired to get up and make something for dinner. She heard a clink near her head and saw that there was plate of onigiri in the center of the table, along with two glasses of green tea. Ulquiorra sat down in front of her.

" Did you…?" she questioned, unable to get the rest of her question out.

The green eyed being nodded.

" Yes. I made them, although I am aware they may not suit your…interesting sense of taste," he worded carefully, waiting for her to take one before he started eating.

She looked at the onigiri and heard her stomach grumble softly. Blushing, she took one from the plate and took a bite out of it. She placed a finger to her lips, chewing thoughtfully, while Ulquiorra stared at her, waiting for her opinion. She swallowed and took a sip of green tea.

" Well?" he asked, slightly impatient.

" Hmm…it's good," she said, but noting his glare, continued, " It would be better if there were some curry and ice cream inside, but…it's still good, nonetheless."

Orihime took a second riceball and ate it even more quickly than the first. She could hear the pitter patter of the rain against the window. She looked at the table and then at her hands on top of the table before her gaze rested on Ulquiorra, who was currently finishing off the last onigiri.

" I wish that things could stay like this. The two of us spending time together. You could make dinner so that the both of us would be able to eat the same thing. I could do all the housework. We could stay up all night, just laying in each other's arms and listening to the other's heartbeats," she rambled as her body began to shake, " And then, we could get married, and you'd find a good paying job and we'd move into a house and raise a family…."

Ulquiorra sighed softly and was about to start talking when he felt her hand rest on top of his own. Looking at her, he noted the tears that began to form in her eyes.

" I'm scared, Ulquiorra. I…I've know about this war for a while now. I know the implications of what would happen if Soul Society lost against Aizen, what would happen to all humanity and…. everything. It's just…I can feel it getting closer and closer and it's beginning to feel more real than it ever has before. And it scares me, to think that I could lose everyone I hold so dear," she said, squeezing his hand lightly.

He continued to stare at her, lost in the impact her words had created.

"Are…are you ashamed of me?" she asked, looking up at him expectantly.

" No," he answered, as he walked over to sit next to her and wrap his arms around her, her head resting on his shoulder, "After all, if there is anything more terrifying than death, it is not existing in the first place."

* * *

For the first time in the history of Soul Society, there was a single meeting held for both taichous and their fukutaichous. It had been many weeks of hard work preparing for what was to come. They had to figure out a strategy. They had to figure out where the most likely point of attack would be. They had to determine who would go and who would stay behind. 

Thankfully, the information that Orihime had provided them was proven useful in these endeavors. However, there was only one thing that they could not figure out, the most important of them all.

" When will Aizen begin his attack?" Hitsugaya asked.

The others began to talk amongst themselves, bits of conversations overlapping one another.

" How will we…"

" …could be any day…"

"There better be some strong guys out there for me to fight!"

" ...idiot."

It stayed this way for a moment until Yamamoto cleared his throat, receiving the attention of everyone in the room, and began.

" Unfortunately, that is something that we are not certain of. That is the reason this meeting has been called. Aizen could attack at any time and we must be prepared to fight when that time comes. 12th squad will be watching Karakura for any change that it notices," he replied, nodding toward Mayuri and Nemu.

They all glanced at each other grimly before Yamamoto continued.

" Remember, any mistake on our part and everything will be erased from existence."

* * *

Aizen sat in his chambers, flanked by Gin and Tousen. Neither of them appeared much different than they normally would. Looking down at all the Arrancar that had gathered in front of him, he took in their anxious faces and smiled, knowing they had no idea the implications this war meant for most of them. 

' Canon fodder,' he thought, staring at the lesser Arrancar.

He noticed the Arrancar had grouped themselves together with their appropriate ranks. All the Espada were grouped together along with their Fraccion, many of them giving disapproving looks to the other Arrancar in the room. He noted that the new cuatra Espada seemed especially haughty. He turned his attention to the new sexta Espada and novena Espada, Wonderwice, both of whom looked confused at the situation at hand, particularly the latter. Aizen cleared his throat, gaining the attention of everyone in the room and causing the chatter to cease immediately. They had been preparing a long time for this moment, but he only had one thing to tell them.

" Tomorrow," he said, his grin widening, "Tomorrow is the beginning of the end."


	12. Chapter 12

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be hinted at later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,315

(posts and runs) Enjoy!

* * *

The second Orihime had woken up, she knew that something was wrong...or was about to become wrong. There was a tense feeling in the air that had not been there when they had gone to bed the night before. She turned her head to look up at Ulquiorra and saw that he looked as tense as she felt. He noticed her looking at him and started. 

" You're aware as well?" he said, turning his head to look out the bedroom window before he glanced back at her.

She nodded slightly, the nervous feeling inside her steadily building with each minute that passed. The two got up and started making the bed, sneaking small glances at each other whenever they could. When they had finished, Orihime looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

" What do you think we should do?" she asked.

" Unfortunately, there is not much we are able to do," he stated, staring at her almost pitifully, " We do not know where Aizen and his army are likely to strike. As a result, the only thing we can do is to be alert for any change in the amount of reistsu in the area."

Sighing softly, Orihime walked to the closet and began to change. Ulquiorra also let out a small sigh and walked over to the bathroom. They continued on as though it was just another day, but it was much quieter than it would have normally been. They were in the middle of breakfast, although they were mostly just staring into their bowls and picking at the food, when they felt a drastic increase in reiatsu. Both of them pinpointed where the change must have occurred and nodded to each other. Ulquiorra unbuttoned his shirt and removed the device from his chest, feeling the increase in reiatsu as it flooded into his body. They rushed to the door and put on their shoes, slamming the door behind them.

They ran silence all the way to the park and were slightly surprised at the scene that they had arrived to. Even though they had just sensed the increase in reiatsu ten minutes earlier, there were already fights breaking out between the shinigami and the Arrancar. Orihime noticed that there were also Vaizards scattered between the two opposing groups as well. They were also fighting the Arrrancar but it appeared that they were not exactly fighting on the side of Soul Society either, as they cast dubious glances at the shinigami.

It would have been hard to distinguish who was fighting whom, if it had not been for the fact that the white of the Arrancar uniform stuck out against the black of the shinigami one. Peering into the crowd, she tried to find her friends to make sure that they were doing okay.

She noticed the octava Espada and the twelfth squad taichou glaring at each other, hands on their zanpakutou, as though the other were some kind of specimen that they would very much enjoy studying. Glancing a little ways beyond them, she noticed Noitora and Zaraki Kenpachi fighting fiercely, bloodthirsty grins on their faces because they had found a worthy adversary. Surprised to see that the pink haired fukutaichou was not on his back, she saw Yachiru standing a few feet away from him, hands on her hips, apparently scolding Wonderwice for being more interested in a butterfly that had somehow made its way onto the battlefield instead of fighting with her. She looked slightly to the left of them and saw Chad fighting Yami, who was having a bit of difficultly keeping up with his opponent's attacks. Orihime saw Ichigo, Renji, and Ishida fight against the primera Espada, Stark, who looked bored to be there as he lazily deflected their attacks. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Ulquiorra.

" Come," he said, indicating the battlefield in front of them.

Orihime glanced in front of them for a second before she took a deep breath and, activating her Shun Shun Rikka, charged into battle.

" Soten Kisshun!" she yelled, activating her powers and covering a small area that was covered with lower ranked Arrancar. " I reject!"

She concentrated on her powers, watching as the Arrancar began to return back to their Hollow forms, screaming indiscernibly. Then, she called Tsubaki and slashed at them, sending them all to Soul Society. The beings around her stopped what they were doing to turn to the orange haired girl in awe before the Arrancar and Menos that had been fighting with the lower ranked shinigami advanced towards her to attack.

* * *

Ulquiorra could sense her behind him, apparently caught in wave after wave of lower level Arrancar and Menos that insisted on attacking her. A part of him was amused at their stupidity for running straight into her powers even though they knew the consequences. Another part of him was relieved that she had not met up with any of the Espada, although he knew that even if she did, she could more than handle herself. 

' As long as she is not confronted with any of the higher ranking Espada, she will be fine on her own,' he thought, eyes straight ahead.

He knew exactly where he was heading, or more accurately, whom he was heading towards. Ulquiorra could pick out Aizen's reiatsu even if there were billions of Arrancar and shinigami surrounding him. Unlike Orihime, he was able to get through the crowd much quicker thanks to his Arrancar powers. It was a repetitive sequence of slash and sonido and slash and sonido, only broken once in a while with a guard if the other Arrancar were more powerful. This did not happen very often in the beginning, however, the closer he got to Aizen's reiatsu, the more, he noticed, that he would have to guard. Looking around himself, he noted that the majority of the Arrancar around him were either Fraccion or Espada, although most of them were too preoccupied with their own battles to spare him a second thought. Just when he believed that he might reach his goal sooner than he had planned, a voice cut through his thoughts.

" Oh? You're the infamous ex-cuatra Espada, huh? You sure don't look like much," the female Arrancar said, looking at him disapprovingly.

" You are in my way," Ulquiorra stated, staring at her harshly.

Throwing her head back, she let out a loud shrill laugh that made him feel as though his ears were bleeding. Moving her hands from her hips, she unzipped her top and revealed the gothic looking 4 that was tattooed in between her breasts, her hollow hole slightly above it. She glanced at him haughtily.

" I'm the new and improved cuatra Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer. My name is – " she started before she saw a cero coming her way. She dodged it, although she gave him a piercing glare while she smoothed her hair back into place.

" What the hell – "

" I do not care who you are. Move," he replied forcefully, earning him a confused face from the cuatra Espada.

" What?!" she shrieked incredulously, " What the hell is up with all this 'get out of the way' crap that you keep going on about? Look. If you want to get any further, then you've gotta kill me first. There's no way I'd let ya get to Aizen-sama while I'm still alive!"

He heaved a sigh; she raised an eyebrow at his reaction.

" Very well," he gritted out, not wanting to waste any more time than he absolutely had to, " Let's get this over with."

An evil grin spread on her face as she let out a cero. He dodged it with ease. He attacked her with a cero of his own, only for it to be dodged once again. After about ten minutes of playing cero tag with one another, Ulquiorra was beginning to feel the last of his patience slip away. It was not that the fight had been trying on him physically, but rather, he despised the fact that he was wasting his time on this annoying creature in front of him who was intent on doing just that. What she lacked in strength, she made up for in speed. After dodging his attack, he saw her place her hands on her hips and laugh once again.

' Is that grating cackle of hers a power as well? To annoy the enemy with that retched noise until they want to kill themselves?' he thought. His fingers itched to wrap themselves around her throat, if only to stop the noise that was coming from her mouth.

" What's with that look on your face?" she asked, taking in his annoyed appearance. " Ulquiorra Schiffer, the ex-cuatra Espada. I had always heard that you were so unreadable to everyone, even, at times, to Aizen-sama himself. But look at you now! You're like an open book! How the mighty have fallen."

She tsked lightly, earning a glare from the green eyed being in front of her. She let out a loud sigh and continued.

" I used to admire you, ya know. I mean, you weren't the highest ranked of the Espada but you were the most infamous. The closest and most trusted by Aizen of any the Arrancar in all of Las Noches. The one that had found the human girl that would make all of Aizen-sama's goals into reality," she rambled, " I knew that I had a huge position to fill as the cuatra Espada, and I knew, from what I had heard, that I wanted to be exactly like you."

Her gaze hardened.

" But then…then I heard how you lost your rank. Ya see, I'd thought that you'd died when those damn ryoka had invaded Hueco Mundo to take that human girl back with them, like the previous novena and sexta Espada had. However," she said, her voice becoming more serious, "Noitora was kind enough to tell me that you'd not died in battle against one of the ryoka; instead, you were the one who had helped them escape in the first place!"

Her hand grabbed the hilt of her zanpakutou and slid it out of its sheath.

" And why? For the sake of some **human** girl. Pathetic," she spat.

She stared at him coldly, bringing her sword up in front of her face.

" I won't forgive you for what you've done to Aizen-sama! This ends now!" she said, muttering her release under her breath.

' Good. I thought she would never cease her infernal ranting,' Ulquiorra thought, readying himself for her attack.

" Scatter, Senbonzakura."

His eyes widened as he saw a wave of pink crash into the Arrancar in front of him, throwing her a good five feet away. Turning to his left, he saw Byakuya holding up his sword, staring at him with an indistinguishable expression on his face. The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds before they heard a groan from in front of them. Understanding the unspoken words that the sixth squad taichou would take care of the cuatra Espada, Ulquiorra nodded slightly and made his way to Aizen.

" Wai..wait! Where the hell do you think you're going?" she called out, pulling herself up from the ground. She started to chase after him before the pink wall blocked her path.

" I am your opponent now, Arrancar," Byakua replied coldly, " Prepare yourself."

* * *

Orihime had finally gotten past the weaker Arrancar and Menos, destroying a good percentage of Aizen's army in the process. She looked far ahead and could feel his reiatsu directly in front of her, along with the other two shinigami that had accompanied him. Shaking her head, she continued reversing the Arrancar in front of her into Hollow before she purified them. She was silently thankful for the training that she had done earlier, which had increased her stamina considerably. She finished purifying the last Hollow in front of her before she continued running towards her goal. 

" Why, if it isn't the little princess? Who would have thought that she would have gotten so strong?" a familiar voice called out tauntingly.

Turning to her left, she saw the female Arrancar that had beaten her up before Grimmjow found her and had taken her out of her room. She had a wicked grin on her face, licking her lips quickly.

" It's you. From that time…"

" Loli," the black haired girl replied, placing a hand to her hip.

" What do you have against me?" Orihime asked before she could stop herself. " What is it about me that you hate so much?"

" What do I hate about you?" Loli sneered, " Everything! At first it was because you dared attract the attention of Aizen-sama. You. Some stupid human girl. The injustice of it all! When you restored Menoli and me, though, I hated you for what you really were: a monster!" she exclaimed.

Orihime looked at her sadly, although she wasn't sure if it was because she understood what it was like to feel unrequited feelings for someone who didn't even know you existed or if it was because she had been called a monster again.

" Soten Kisshun!"

She placed the yellow barrier over her opponent, her hands held out in front of her.

" Wha-What do you think you are doing?" the black haired Arrancar shrieked, trying to break through the barrier.

Lifting her head, a soft smile on her face, Orihime softly replied, " Don't worry. You won't have to suffer any more. I reject."

She heard the Loli's screams transform from something that sounded like a young girl's into the shriek of yet another Hollow.

" Koten Zanshun! I reject!" she exclaimed, Tsubaki cutting the Hollow in two.

She watched as she saw the soft light that was her soul drift up as Loli's body disappeared. She thought back to a conversation that she had had with Ulquiorra one day after their training session.

" _Hey, Ulquiorra? You remember when you were telling me that the Arrancar are lead to Aizen because of fear and stay loyal to him because of it?" she asked and, seeing his nod in response, continued, " Hmm…I guess I just don't understand. It's something they fear that makes them Hollows and then, if they become Arrancar, it's that fear that makes them that way and keeps them loyal…. I guess my thing is, what is the point of an existisence that is driven by fear alone?"_

_Ulquiorra's eyes widened. She tilted her head slightly and looked at him._

" _What? Did I say something wrong?"_

" _No. I find myself at a loss because I cannot think of an answer to your question," he replied, glancing at her in slight awe._

" _Do Arrancar who are killed go to Soul Society?"_

" _Considering I have not been killed, I would not know the answer to that question," he replied, a bit of humor in his voice._

_She sat there, placing a finger to her mouth and tapping her lips ever so gently. After a few seconds, her eyes lit up and she turned to him as though she had a brilliant plan in mind. Ulquiorra looked as though this should worry him._

" _Hey. If I reverse the Arrancar to their Hollow forms and purify them, then they would be able to go to Soul Society that way, right?" she questioned excitedly, pumping her arms in the air._

_Glancing at her incredulously, he replied, "Yes. However, it would be best if you - "_

" _That way, they would be able to live in a place without fear. I mean, even if they __**are**__ Arranar, even they deserve some peace, right? I'm sure not all of them wanted to become Hollows in the first place," Orihime pointed out as she stood up from her seat._

_Looking up at her, Ulquiorra closed his eyes and sighed. _

" _It's that kindness that's eventually going to bring about your end."_

She continued running, this time much more easily than before because most of the Arrancar that were in front of her were preoccupied in a battle with either a shinigami or a Vaizard. She passed by Yoruichi and Urahara taking on Halibel, although it appeared as though they both looked worse for the wear. Orihime shook her head and focused on her destination.

' Aizen,' she thought determinedly.

* * *

After Ulquiorra had left Byakuya to deal with the cuatra Espada, he ran the options he had through his mind over and over again, finding both of them to be less than acceptable. He could either try to sneak up on Aizen and hope for a surprise attack or he could just attack him out right. 

' Aizen knows the pattern of my reiatsu. Even if I have changed forms, it hasn't changed considerably enough for him to not recognize me. A sneak attack is out of the question,' Ulquiorra decided.

Suddenly, he stopped running and glared at the being in front of him, the man that he had taken hours to reach.

" Aizen Sosuke," he replied coldly.

He stood in front of Ulquiorra wearing the same outfit he always wore with the same fake fatherly smile plastered on his face. He chuckled lightly before he began.

" Ulquiorra? This is certainly a surprise. It's such a pleasure to see you again," he murmured, his eyes glinting, " I almost didn't recognize you without your mask and markings."

Aizen tsked softly, taking in the former cuatra Espada's new form for the first time.

" It's such a pity. You were the most perfect of all of my creations, but look at you now. It seems that Orihime girl has broken you."

Ulquiorra gritted his teeth slightly, stating, " This ends now."

Using all the reiatsu he had, he fired off the most powerful cero he could at Aizen pointblank, creating a cloud of smoke. Watching as the smoke cleared, he saw that the shinigami was no longer there, but he could still feel his reiatsu somewhere close. He turned to look behind him, but not fast enough. Suddenly, he felt excruciating pain as a hand made its way though his chest in the exact spot his Hollow hole had once been. He coughed; a bit of blood spurted out from his mouth and landed on Aizen's clothing.

" Oh, Ulquiorra. I'm quite disappointed in you. Did that girl dull your brain as well? You should know that you are no match against me," Aizen replied darkly, his fatherly smile turning into something far more sinister and dangerous.

* * *

Orihime could sense that she was getting closer to Aizen's reiatsu. Looking around her, she noticed the other battles. It worried her to see that many of the shinigami looked as though they were at their limit, not that the Arrancar seemed much better. Looking up ahead, she saw the back of Ulquiorra's head and stopped. In front of him, she could see Aizen. She saw as he shot his most powerful cero at the shinigami, creating a cloud of smoke that filled the air. She squinted, hoping to see what was going on. Her eyes widened as she saw Aizen pop up behind him. 

" UL-" she began to cry out.

But it was too late. Before she knew what was happening, she saw Aizen's hand push its way though Ulquiorra's chest. Glancing at him, she saw that his eyes were also widened in shock and he coughed harshly, blood dripping from his mouth. Her eyes grew even larger as Aizen removed his hand from his chest. Then, as if in slow motion, she watched as Ulquiorra fell to the ground.


	13. Chapter 13

Title: The Rain that Binds  
Pairings: UlquiHime with some one-sided IchiHime and IshiHime. Other pairings may be hinted at later.  
Rating: T  
Spoilers: Up to chapter 282 of the manga  
Word count: 3,544  
Warnings: Noitora's potty mouth

I can't believe this is the last chapter! T.T I'd like to thank my betas, dreamoperator23/Sidonzo and my parents…especially my parents because they had to suffer through reading a story about a pairing that they didn't understand…

Of course, biggest thanks of all to you, the readers and reviewers!

If you click on my profile, dreamoperator23 has made some awesome fan art for two scenes of this story. If you have time, please check that out. Also, if any of you out there are artists and have fan art for this story, please PM me your art so that I can add it to my profile page (I will, of course, credit you). Thanks so much!

Ok, without further ado, the final chapter of The Rain that Binds! Enjoy and don't forget to keep an eye out for new side stories!!

* * *

She felt her body tremble in disbelief as she stared at Ulquiorra's motionless body on the ground. Her eyes were wide as she took in his form, the blood pouring generously out of the hole that Aizen had created just seconds before. Her brain kept telling her that she needed to move, that she needed to get over to him and heal his wounds, but her body refused to cooperate. Finally, her body snapped out of its daze and she ran to his side. Calling out Ayame and Shun'ou, she placed the shield over Ulquiorra's body, her hands hovering over his body in concentration. 

" It's a pleasure to see you again, Orihime," Aizen said, wiping Ulquiorra's blood off with a piece of cloth that he had stashed somewhere in his uniform.

She resisted the urge to shudder at hearing that horrible voice and settled for looking up, glaring harshly at him. He laughed at her attempt to be threatening and continued.

" It saddened me that your visit to Hueco Mundo was ended so abruptly. We didn't even have time to get to know about one another bett-"

" You make it sound as though I were guest while I was there. You and I both know that was not the case, Aizen," she said, almost echoing the words that Ulquiorra had spoken to her that first night after they had escaped from Las Noches.

He chuckled lightly, obviously amused by her antics. He watched as she tried to heal Ulquiorra's wound.

" You won't be able to reject it this time. My reiatsu is wrapped up in his wound," he stated, staring at her powers lustfully.

Orihime ignored him, though she knew that it was not safe to do so. However, she refused to give up. She would heal Ulquiorra, even if it took her whole being to do so. After a few agonizing minutes, she was able to see some progress as the hole began to slowly shrink. Glancing up, she noticed that Aizen was still staring at her.

" Why don't you attack me?" she questioned, continuing to stare at her work instead of at the shinigami above her, " I'm defenseless this way, you know. You could have killed me any time you wanted to."

" Ahh. Yes, I indeed could have, but then…who would I have had to recharge the hougyoku's power for me?" he questioned, holding out the orb for her to see.

Orihime looked up at the object that was responsible for everything. It was the reason for this whole war that they were fighting. It was the reason these Arrancar around her existed. It was the reason that she had been taken to Las Noches. It…

' It's the reason that I met Ulquiorra in the first place,' she realized, her eyes widening as tears began to fill them.

" Aizen, I'm going to make sure that horrible thing you hold in your hands never existed in the first place!" she exclaimed, glaring at him as she prepared to make her shield larger to encompass the hougyoku as well.

" Don't," Ulquiorra grounded out, trying to lift himself off the ground, " That is what he wants you to do."

She looked at him, confused.

" What do you mean, that's what he wants me to do? Why would he want me to destroy the hougyoku if that's what is used to-"

" Because that is not the hougyoku. In reality, it is something that he ordered Szayel to create that looked like it," he explained. " His plan was to show you this orb and lead you to believe that he was showing you the hougyoku. He knew that, once you saw it, you would be determined to destroy it. However, the true purpose of that orb is –"

Ulquiorra let out a harsh cough and rested his upper body on his elbows. He took in a couple of deep breaths and continued.

" The true purpose of that orb is to steal your powers completely and allow him to use your powers for himself."

Orihime felt her eyes widen in response. Suddenly, she was very glad that she had never been able to go through with her plans of destroying the orb.

' If I had, then…' she started, not wanting to finish her thought.

They heard a soft tsking from up above them and saw Aizen shaking his head ever so slightly. He looked down at the two with a dangerous look on his face; Orihime had only seen it once before, when he had been taken into Hueco Mundo from Soul Society.

" Look around you. Do you see your allies, struggling in their battles against my army? How long do you believe this war will last? It's already clear who is the victor here. It's only a matter of time before those powers of yours are mine," he stated, waving a hand across the battlefield.

Orihime looked around and was shocked at the damage that her nakama and allies had suffered. She could see countless bodies of lower ranked shinigami spread on the ground, causing some of the others to lose their balance. She noticed that there were battles that were still taking place and was disappointed to see that the Arrancar clearly had the advantage.

Even with their Bankai and their reiatsu being unsealed, most of the captains were having trouble with the higher-level Arrancar. Many of the battles, which had started out as one on one, were quickly becoming two or three to one, and yet, even with three shinigami fighting against an Arrancar, they were barely holding their ground. Not even the infamous Zaraki Kenpachi looked like he was doing well, as he attempted to hold off Noitora's attack while gripping a large wound at his side. She shook her head in disbelief.

" This can't be happening," she whispered to herself softly, " It just can't. We're the good guys. The good guys are always supposed to win, right?"

" Not in real life, Orihime," Aizen said, looking down at her, turning his attention to the battlefield before him.

She had finally finished healing Ulquiorra and let out a soft sigh as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He glared at Aizen coldly, trying to shove himself off the ground completely until he felt a hand lightly push him back down. He looked at Orihime and saw the plea in her eyes.

" Don't push yourself. There's nothing you can do at the moment that would do any damage to Aizen," she whispered softly.

" My dear Arrancar," he started, " This is it. The moment that you have been waiting for for so long has finally arrived. Now, strike down the shinigami foes before you and, together, we will destroy this world!"

The Arrancar all raised their swords preparing themselves to attack their enemies. The shinigami raised their zanpakutou, hoping hold off their finishing blow. Seconds passed. Then, minutes. Orihime blinked, unsure of what to make of the scene in front of her.

' What's going on? Why aren't they moving?' she wondered, looking between the battlefield and Aizen.

It was then that she noticed a blonde child-like Arrancar making its way towards Aizen. He held finger to his mouth and walked a slow, awkward gait before he finally stopped in front of the shinigami and stared up at him, his purple eyes shining. Aizen looked down and plastered on his fatherly smile on as he lowered himself so that he was at eye-level with the shorter Arrancar.

" What is the matter, Wonderwice?" he asked.

The novena Espada just smiled a toothy grin in response, tilting his head slightly. Before anyone knew what was going on, he unsheathed his zanpakutou and attacked. Aizen was much faster than the Espada and caught the blade in his hands, a slightly amused look on his face.

" What is the meaning of this, novena Espada?"

Suddenly, all the Arrancar that were on the battlefield began to laugh, the shinigami staring at them in confusion. This continued for several minutes until, all at once, they stopped in unison and turned to face Aizen.

" We? What the fuck are you talking about, we? You really think that we're idiots, don't you, Aizen-_sama_?" Noitora started, his voice dripping with disdain as his mouth turned down into a deep frown.

The brown haired shinigami looked perplexed for a moment before his face returned to normal.

" I do not understand what you mean, Noitora," he said, glaring at the quinta Espada dangerously.

" Don't play around with us, Aizen," Szayel replied, dropping the formalities, " After all, a plaything should know its place."

" Oh?" Aizen muttered darkly, his hand reaching for the hilt of his zanpakutou. " I think that you are quite mistaken."

The cuatra Espada tsked, wagging her finger at him, " Oh dear. It seems as though there has been a bit of…miscommunication on our part. Apparently, you were under the impression that you have been manipulating us. The fact is…we've been manipulating **you**."

" When you first came and offered to transform us into Arrancar," the tercer Espada started, " we knew that you were doing so for your own gain. Even though we were enemies against one another, we could never let a shinigami have control over us. So, we let you _think _that we were loyal to you while, in reality, we were using the power of the hougyoku to unlock more of our own powers."

" I created you," he stated, unsheathing his zanpakutou, " I can destroy you as well."

" It will be a little difficult without this, don't you think?" the octava Espada questioned, a small grin on his face as he held the hougyoku in his right hand.

The Arrancar formed three large groups and began to advance towards the three shinigami that they had been supposedly serving for many months. Noitora led a group towards Gin while the tercer Espada, along with Wonderwice, led a group towards Tousen; finally, with the largest group of the three was Stark, heading towards Aizen.

" You were careless, Aizen," Halibel stated, " You forgot that, despite the human-like forms that we are currently in, it doesn't change the fact that, deep down…"

" WE ARE MONSTERS!" they cried out in unison.

They all charged at the shinigami in front of them. At first, it seemed as though it were a lost cause. Despite the number of Arrancar that were attacking, Gin, Aizen and Tousen did a good job of simultaneously attacking and guarding. However, it became clear that the three were having trouble with the number of enemies that were attacking them. Suddenly, the Arrancar overtook them, even before they were able to call on their Bankai. Their zanpakutou were thrown carelessly onto some corner of the battlefield.

" The Arrancar. Why are they rebelling against Aizen? On top of it all, they're…they're working together…" Orihime noted, turning to Ulquiorra.

He shook his head slightly, his eyes as wide as her.

" I do not know. I would never have imagined that they would have made a truce between one another in order to fight against a common adversary."

Suddenly, they heard horrified screaming from the three groups. Orihime closed her eyes and placed her hands over her ears in an attempt to drown out the sound. It didn't help. She could still hear the horrible cries. After a few minutes, there was silence. Opening her eyes and removing her hands from her ears, she turned to the group that had attack Aizen. They pulled away. Her eyes drifted down to the ground only to find…

" What…what happened to them?" Orihime murmured as she and Ulquiorra stood up and joined her nakama.

There was nothing left of them. The Arrancar licked their fingers and mouths, apparently satisfied with the meal that they had just shared. They turned to the previously forgotten shingami and Vaizards, who looked on in mute horror at what had just occurred.

" You…you just…"

" We ate them," the cuatra Espada replied unabashedly, " And this surprises you because…? Honestly, shinigami, you should know by now that this is what we do. Don't act so damn surprised!"

' I doubt that any have actually seen their own kind being consumed first hand,' Ulquiorra thought as he glanced at the wide-eyed faces of Ichigo and Rukia.

They stood there for a few moments, both groups staring each other down before the three groups of Arrancar walked towards each other to form one huge crowd. The shinigami prepared themselves for an upcoming attack. They waited for a few seconds before they realized that the Arrancar were not attacking. Instead, they had opened up a garganta to return back to Hueco Mundo. About 100 or so Arrancar had walked through the portal. Hitsugaya called out to them.

" What are you doing, returning to Hueco Mundo like that, when there's still a battle to be fought?' he demanded, pointing his zanpakutou at them.

Noitora turned around and gave a quick once over of the battlefield.

" Well fuck. Look at you pathetic lot. If we were to attack you now, that would be the end of that," he said, his grin widening, " And then what would we have to do for fun? After all, eternity is a long long time. Don't you worry. The war is far from over. This is not the last you will be seeing of us, shinigami."

And with that, he turned around and walked into the garganta, the portal closing behind him. The Vaizards had already left, leaving the shinigami and their allies, as well as Ulquiorra, staring at the sky where the portal had just closed up. They surveyed the area and noticed the damage that had been done. The grass had been torn up, trees had been uprooted, and some of the nearby buildings were damaged by stray attacks.

" So…I guess this means that we get to pay for the repairs, huh?" Renji asked, sweatdropping, as the taichous around him nodded wearily.

Orihime turned to Ulquiorra, staring at the place where Aizen had punched his hand through his chest. Her fingers grazed the area lightly as she looked up at him with watery eyes.

" I-I thought I had lost you," she stuttered, trying to keep the tears in her eyes from pouring out, " I don't know what I would have done if -"

She was cut off as his finger was placed to her lips.

" But I didn't," he replied, brushing a strand of hair that was stuck to it.

" Hey!" Yoruichi called out, causing them to turn and face her, " If you want to do that kind of stuff, go and get a room already. If not, come over here and help!"

Orihime turned a deep shade of red while Ulquiorra blinked once, feeling warmth spread over his cheeks. They walked towards her, trying to ignore all the stares of confusion and amusement that they were getting from the crowd around them.

* * *

_A few months later…_

" Ahhh! Schiffer-kun is tied with Ishida-kun for number one again! He's so amazing!" a random girl squealed as she checked the grades that were posted in the hall.

" I know!" another girl exclaimed, " He's smart and handsome and foreign! He's just perfect!"

Ulquiorra ignored the comments of the girls around him. Ever since he had started school with Orihime and her nakama, he had been swarmed with fangirls who insisted on throwing themselves at him any chance they got. Although it was a nuisance, it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle. The only time that he had ever lost his patience with them was when he saw a couple bullying Orihime. After that incident, he made sure that no one would even think of trying to do that again.

"I don't know," one girl added, " Ishida-kun is quite handsome as well…"

" The most perfect thing would be Ishida-kun and Schiffer-kun **together**. There'd be so much beauty between the two of them!"

Ulquiorra resisted the urge to throw up what he had eaten for lunch. He thought of him with that… no. He shuddered and turned to see that Ishida had a similar look on his face.

He looked down at Orihime, who was standing to the left of him. She apparently did not understand what the girl had meant, considering the blank look on her face. Shaking his head slightly, he returned his attention back to the wall in front of him and looked for her name.

" It appears that you have achieved the fourth rank in our class," he told her, seeing her frown slightly.

" I moved down a rank."

" Don't worry about it, Orihime. You'll do better next time," Tatsuki assured her, patting her on the back lightly.

It had been an… interesting experience, the first time meeting with her friend; Tatsuki seemed to be wary of him. After seeing how much he cared about her best friend and her safety, though, the black haired girl began to warm up to him. Of course, when she had asked how the two had met, they conveniently left out the part of him kidnapping her, bringing her to another dimension full of monsters, and him being one of those monsters himself at the time. For some reason, they figured that she wouldn't take very kindly to that.

" Hey, did you hear me?" Orihime asked.

" What did you say?"

Sighing, she responded, " I said that we should be getting home now."

He looked at the clock and saw that school had already ended. Nodding, he picked up his bag from the floor and walked next to her. They were a few feet away from the school grounds before she reached over and intertwined her fingers with his.

" There haven't been any Arrancar attacks recently. Not only that, but they took the hougyoku with them as well," she started, " Do you think they – "

"I am certain they will hold true to their promise. As for the hougyoku, it is unnerving that it is in their hands, but at least with each use of its powers, the orb will weaken."

She nodded her head and they continued to walk in silence. A few minutes later, she turned to him and began,

" Hey, Ulquiorra? Do you remember that first outfit I bought you? You know, that green shirt and the black slacks?"

" Yes. Why?" he asked, curious as to why she had brought it up.

Blushing slightly, she said, " I thought it looked really good on you. It's a pity that you don't wear it as often."

" It will take me at least half a year before I would be able to wear it again, especially since I am required to wear this uniform for most of the week in addition to all the clothing that you have purchased for me recently," he noted, looking down at the clothes he had on.

" That's true," she decided, nodding slightly, " You know, I really wanted to buy you a red shirt because it would contrast with your eyes, but…I thought that looked too Christmas-y. Hey! Do you think that we could dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus for Christmas this year?"

He didn't respond. Ulquiorra had quickly learned that it was not necessary to answer all the questions that she posed him. He listened to her ramble for a couple of minutes before he interrupted her.

" And maybe you can dress up as the Easter bunny – "

" I meant what I said before," he stated.

Orihime looked up at him and tilted her head.

" Huh? What do you mean?"

Turning to her, he continued, " The first time that I saw you in the Arrancar uniform. I said that it suited you. I meant it…even if the style of the dress was atrocious"

" You did? I really really hated it," she said, laughing uncomfortably, " I don't know why, exactly. Why did you say it suited me?"

" It was the color. White. It's a reflection of what is inside you," he answered, feeling himself flush a bit.

They stopped and stared at each other for a moment. Tiptoeing, she placed a chaste kiss on his lips and smiled. Brushing a strand of hair away from her face, he brought her closer and pulled her into a deeper one, his hands resting on her hips. Pulling away from each other, they saw that the other was blushing, although Orihime looked much redder than he did. Suddenly, Ulquiorra felt a drop a water land on his cheek and trail down his face.

" Ah! It's starting to rain!" she exclaimed. "We better get home before it starts to get any harder!"

Silently, the two walked hand in hand. Turning his head to look at her, he noticed a content smile that graced her lips. He closed his eyes, smiling ever so slightly.

' I **am** home.'

OWARI


End file.
